The Bonding at Baskerville
by Ms Georgie
Summary: Poor Henry Knight has come to Sherlock and John for help and what else is a bored Sherlock to do but take the case. Unfortunately John's heat is close and Sherlock wants nothing to with it. What ever shall our favourite blogger do? Omegaverse! I've followed 'The Hound of Baskerville' as closely as possible so it won't be too AU :) I don't own Sherlock XP
1. Chapter 1

**The Bonding at Baskerville **

**Chapter 1: The rules are wrong!**

***Ching!* **

John groaned into his pillow and snuffled for a moment before reaching over and grabbing his mobile off of the bedside table, it took another moment before the lazy Omega bothered to open his eyes and lift his head to read the text that woke him up.

**On a case, nothing interesting so I can manage alone, be back by lunch. Took the harpoon. We need milk – SH **

"_Again_ with the bloody milk!" John groaned.

**If you want milk the get it yourself since your out! - J**

There was no reply which either meant that Sherlock was ignoring him or was too zoned into his case that he didn't notice the reply. It was 7:45AM so that gave John plenty of time to shower and have breakfast in peace for a change, he only hoped the jam wasn't poisoned... again. The Omega ruffled his hair and swung his legs over the side of the bed to sit for a moment before jumping up and heading for the shower. He made sure it was just a quick one and got dressed before heading to the kitchen, he was staving!

"For the love of!..." There was a foot on the table. A fucking foot! A fucking male foot on the table!

There goes his apatite.

"Suppose I'll just leave breakfast then." He sighed and clicked the kettle avoiding looking at the disgusting body part on the table, even when attached feet gave John the _heebie Jeebies_ so a dismembered one was just very... _off-putting_.

Once he had a cup of his beloved tea, minus the milk of course, he shuffled into the living room to see if Sherlock had got todays papers and was thrilled to see that all three of his favourites was there and John had a moment of weakness thinking how good of a provider the tall Alpha was before he caught himself.

John's heat was due in the next week so it wasn't uncommon for him to have these kind of thoughts, still it wasn't practical to have them about Mr _'Married to his work' _who '_Can't be arsed with Alpha/Omega biology_', John was sure that Sherlock was the only Alpha in history who was disgusted by an Omega in heat. 

***Ching!* **

"Speak of the Devil..." John sighed and pulled his mobile from his trouser pocket.

**Boring. Tedious. Dead pig. Done. On my way back, might be a bit longer than normal. Had to take the tube. -SH**

**Ok, why the tube? In fact don't bother I'm sure I'll find out when you get home. C u sn – J**

It was only 9:15AM, a case that only took half an hour to solve was never a good sign, John sighed and started hunting for Sherlock's secret pack of cigarettes, he knew the detective kept them for when he was going through a dry spell with cases like he had been lately. Once he'd found them hidden in the desk, he planted them under the Skull and _finally_ sat down to read the papers and drink his tea. He was kind of proud of himself, it only took him twenty minutes to find them this time, maybe today was his lucky day.

***Bang!***

"That'll be him home then." John just flicked the page and ignored Sherlock when he strode in and thumped the harpoon on the floor.

"Well that was_ tedious_." When the detective didn't move away, John looked up and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. Sherlock was covered head to toe in blood.

"You went on the tube like_ that_?" Sherlock sneered at him.

"None of the cabs would take me." The Alpha dashed off to wash up, leaving poor John gaping at where his flatmate stood seconds earlier.

_Lucky day? Yeah, right_.

_**/**_

After getting cleaned up and wiping down his harpoon, Sherlock came striding into the living room and started pacing up and down, John just sighed and kept reading his paper, he might just manage to get through this one.

"Nothing?" Sherlock asked and John knew immediately what he was asking and started flicking through the papers for anything interesting.

"Military coup in Uganda?"

"Mm." John flicked again.

"Mm, another photo of you in the..." Sherlock groaned whilst John smirked.

"Cabinet reshuffle?" John teased and Sherlock growled.

"Nothing of importance?! _OH GOD_!" He yelled and slammed the harpoon against the carpet to emphasize his frustration before looking down at the omega and pulling his shoulders back to take on a dominating, Alpha stance.

"John I need some, get me some." He ordered and John shivered inside at the order but resisted complying.

"No." He said and Sherlock snarled at him, alpha pride bruised at the Omega's disobedience, all of Sherlock's biological instincts telling him to flip his John on his belly and sink his teeth into that tender skin at the back of the neck to assert his dominance, but John wasn't _his_ Omega and Sherlock was better than his instincts so he pushed that feeling away and tried a different route.

"Get me some." He snarled again but John held his ground.

"NO! Cold turkey, we agreed no matter what. Anyway you paid everyone off remember? No one in a two mile radius will sell you any." Sherlock huffed, he hated it when John was right, true it wasn't often but he still hated it.

"Stupid idea, who's idea was that anyway?" John cleared his throat and looked pointedly at Sherlock who just narrowed his eyes.

"MRS HUDSON!" He called and then started tearing through the files on his desk and raking through drawers all whilst pleading.

"Tell me where they are, please tell me... please." He looked at John with a wounded puppy dog look and John once again had to fight his instinct to cater to his Alpha's needs, God his heat must be closer than he thought.

"Can't help, sorry." He gave Sherlock a look that said he really wasn't though, Sherlock suddenly straightened a bit an idea forming.

"I'll let you know next weeks lottery numbers ." He said smugly and John chuckled at him, as if he would fall for that... again, Sherlock huffed at him.

"Uh, it was worth a try." Then he dove to the fire place and started ripping things up to find his secret pack, they should've been in his desk but they had mysteriously vanished, there was no way John could have found them so that only left...

"Oooh Oooh!" Mrs Hudson called as she walked in, Sherlock ignored her greeting.

"Secret supply? What've you done with my secret supply?!" He asked her frantically and she looked at John confused.

"Eh?" 

"Cigarettes? What've you done with them? Where are they?" He asked impatiently as he continued to rummage around the fire place.

"You know you never let me touch your thing's. Oh! Chance'd be a fine thing." She snorted and Sherlock turned to her.

"I thought you weren't my house keeper?" He sniped and Mrs Hudson gave him a firm look.

"I'm not." She replied and Sherlock snarled and jumped up to grab his harpoon again, Mrs Hudson looked back to John for help and he gestured she suggest a cup of tea.

"How about a nice cuppa and perhaps you could put away your harpoon?" She asked kindly but Sherlock just mumbled something about 7% before whirling around to point his harpoon at Mrs Hudson making her jump and then started deducing her, making the old Alpha uncomfortable.

"I wouldn't pin your hopes on that cruise with Mr Chatterjee. He's got a wife in Doncaster that nobody knows about, well nobody except me." He finished smugly.

"Sherlock!" John called out angrily and took back what he thought earlier, how could Sherlock be a good provider if he acted like such a child when he didn't get his way.

"I don't know what your talking about, I really don't." Mrs Hudson whimpered and ran out, Sherlock just jumped on his chair and sat with his knees pressed to his chest, John slammed down his paper and leaned forward to try and be menacing.

"What the bloody hell was all that about?" He asked but Sherlock just started rocking back and forth.

"You don't understand." John narrowed his eyes.

"Go after her and apologise." Sherlock looked at John like he'd just grown an extra head.

"Apologise?" He asked like it offended him.

"Mmhm." John nodded and Sherlock sighed

"Oh John, your Omega mind is just so envious." 

"Envious?" John asked sarcastically and leaned back in his chair, this he had to hear.

"Yes it's so simple, submissive, desperate to please any Alpha's like Mrs Hudson and I, hardly used for anything really challenging, mine is dominant and sharp, like a rocket tearing it's self to pieces, stuck on a launch pad. I NEED A CASE!" He screamed at last and John had reached the end of his patience.

"YOU JUST SOLVED ONE BY HARPOOING A DEAD PIG! Apparently." To be honest he still hadn't gotten the full story on that yet but he did get the jist.. he hoped.

"Arg! That was this morning, when's the next one?" Sherlock flipped his legs down and started stomping his feet off the floor making John cringe.

"Nothing on the website?" He asked tersely and Sherlock jumped up to show him the adorable e-mail he'd gotten from little Kristy about poor missing Bluebell the rabbit, John was so caught up in reading the cute plea for help that he didn't really hear everything that Sherlock was saying.

"... Then the next morning Bluebell was gone! Hutch still locked, no sign of forced entry...Ah! What am I saying? This is brilliant, phone Lestrade, tell him there's an escaped rabbit." John looked at Sherlock like he'd finally gone mad.

"Are you serious?" Sherlock rolled his eyes.

"It's _this _or Cluedo." John's heart stopped. Not Cluedo. Not again. John slammed the laptop shut and stood up to put it on the desk.

"Ah no! We are _never_ playing that again." He stated firmly, Sherlock gave him a questioning look.

"Why not?" John walked back to his chair exasperated.

"Because it's not actually possible for the victim to have done it Sherlock."

"Well, it was the only possible solution."

"It's not in the rules!"

"Well then the _rules_ are wrong!"

***BUZZZ***

They both stopped and looked up excited.

"Single ring" John stated.

"Maximum pressure just under the half second." Sherlock agreed.

"_Client_." They both chirped and Sherlock dashed off to his bedroom to change out of his dressing gown.

"Well John don't just sit there, answer the door." John sighed and jumped up, this was going to be a long day, he could tell.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Coming or Going?**

Sherlock was bored already, he was expecting something exciting when the doorbell rang! Not some posh, deluded, country boy Omega, who had clearly just finished a heat two days prior and was still experiencing hormonal issues, to come in to his flat and insist that he watch a crap documentary about local superstition and a stupid military base in the sticks. Sherlock could see that this man was convinced that he _had_ saw a monster twenty years ago and Sherlock knew that _something_ must've happened to his father but it was clear there was nothing truly interesting here.

The only reason that Henry was still sitting here was John insisting that Sherlock hear him out, if Sherlock refused then John would be upset and Sherlock hated it when John was upset though he didn't quite understand why. He supposed it must be a friend thing, Sherlock frowned and realized he had drifted off into his mind as an escape from this tedium and grabbed the remote, John and Henry were fixated on the television so they didn't notice until Sherlock clicked it off.

"What did you see?" Sherlock asked bored and Henry shifted nervous of the Alpha speaking to him, God what was it about Omega's and nervousness, Molly was the same and it irritated Sherlock to no end, this was why he never bothered with them, honestly who would want a simpering pile of submissive boredom catering to there every whim without question or challenge? John was Omega and _he_ wasn't like that, though Sherlock did wonder why sometimes.

"Oh.. I... I was just about to say." Henry murmured pointing to the television and drawing Sherlock from his thoughts once again.

"Yes in a TV Interview, I prefer to do my own editing." He replied still in a bored tone and Henry smiled shyly and shifted again.

"Yes, sorry, yes, excuse me." He said before blowing his nose on the train napkin he had clutched in his hand. Sherlock saw John smile from the corner of his eye and his face relaxed from the slightly irritated expression it had been displaying.

"In your own time." John said kindly and Sherlock raised an eyebrow and chipped in.

"But quite quickly." Henry lowered his napkin and started his inane story about the 'Devil' tearing his father apart and John looked at him concerned and confused all at the same time, it was endearing really.

"Hmm. Red eyes, coal-black fur, enormous: Dog? Wolf?" He asked seriously and Sherlock snorted.

"Or a genetic experiment?" He teased and looked away hiding his amusement, clearly not well enough though as Henry still saw it and took on a hurt look.

"Are you laughing at me Mr Holmes?" He asked and swallowed, Sherlock looked back at him and smirked, raising his eyebrows.

"Why, are you joking?" That set the Omega off, now he was trying to make him act like a protective Alpha by bringing up his deceased father and looking upset, it made Sherlock want to laugh at the display.

"Henry, whatever did happen to your father it was twenty years ago, why come to us now?" John voiced trying to ease the situation but it was no use, Henry wasn't listening.

"I'm not sure you can help me Mr Holmes since you find it all so _funny_." Henry snarled and got up to leave, Sherlock narrowed his eyes at him, the ignorant bastard, how dare he ignore John, it was a valid question.

"Because of what happened last night." Sherlock answered John who tilted his head to the side.

"Why? What happened last night?" Henry spun around to look at Sherlock.

"How... How did you know?" He asked stunned and Sherlock smugly raised his chin.

"I didn't know, I noticed." Then he started rattling off his deductions to the startled man who was now sitting back down, John tried to stop Sherlock from showing off but was unsuccessful and despite the fact that he tried to stop Sherlock, John still look amazed when Sherlock had finished, Henry did _too_ but he wasn't important, only John was and Sherlock preened under the impressed gaze. The idiot sitting across from him must have assumed Sherlock's pleased aura was due to his own appraising stare and tilted his head instinctively to show his clean neck, devoid of a bonding bite. Sherlock just rolled his eyes again.

"What did you see?" Sherlock asked impatiently when Henry started prattling again.

"Footprints. On the exact spot my father was torn apart." Sherlock huffed exasperated and sat back in his seat.

"Mans or woman's?" John asked interested.

"Neither they were-" Sherlock interrupted him, he wanted this idiot out of his flat now.

"Is that it? Nothing else? Footprints. That's all?" Henry looked distressed and tried to appeal.

"Yes but they were-." Sherlock was having none of it though and just dismissed him before standing up to head into his room to retrieve his dressing gown that he had needlessly abandoned for this pointless exercise.

"Mr Holmes they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!" Henry called desperately and Sherlock stopped dead in his tracks, something about the way he said that was just... Sherlock stalked back over to Henry who had his full attention now.

"Say that again." Henry looked relieved.

"I found the footprints; they were-"  
"No, no, no, your exact words, repeat you exact words form a moment ago, exactly as you said them." Sherlock said impatiently.

"Mr Holmes, they were the footprints, of a, gigantic hound." Henry repeated slowly and Sherlock brought his hands to his face in prayer stance.

"I'll take the case." He said and John's head shot up.

"Sorry what?" The blonde asked confused but went ignored.

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention. It's very promising." That was the moment John lost his temper a little bit.

"No, No, No, sorry _what_? A minute ago footprints were boring, now they're very promising?" Sherlock gave John _'The Look'_, God did he hate that face sometimes, and rolled his eyes at the baffled Omega.

"It's nothing to do with footprints. As ever, John, you weren't listening. Baskerville: Ever heard of it?" Sherlock asked and John pouted a little in thought, Sherlock had to hold back the smile that was threatening to break free at the cuteness of the whole affair. My, my, wasn't he just full of John related responses today, how _curious_.

"Vaguely. It's all very hush hush." John decided and nervously tapped his pen against the pad he was writing on, Sherlock asking about a top secret military army base was bound to make anyone nervous after all.

"Sounds like a good place to start." The detective confirmed John's fears and bit back a chuckle at the _'woe is me' _expression in John's eyes, he'd almost forgotten Henry sitting behind him. Almost.

"Ah! You'll come down then?" The you man asked excited and Sherlock felt like having a little bit of fun with his blogger.

"No, I can't leave London at the moment. Far to busy. Don't worry, I'm putting my best man on to it." Sherlock said seriously and then strode over to John patting him on the shoulder.

"Always rely on John to send me the relevant data, as he never understands a word of it himself." Sherlock smirked and nearly rubbed his hands together in glee as John started to panic and get defensive.

"What are you talking about, your busy? You don't have a case! A minute ago you were complaining-" John started frantically, he really didn't want to have to run down to bloody Devon all on his own, especially with a heat so close but Sherlock interrupted him smugly.

"Bluebell, John! I've got Bluebell, The case of the vanishing, glow-in-the-dark rabbit! NATO's in uproar." He directed the last part at Henry who just looked between them both confused.

"Oh, sorry, so you're not coming then?" He asked trying to understand the situation, Sherlock took this opportunity to pointedly direct a very put upon, sighing pout towards John, the bastard. It took John a second before it dawned on him what Sherlock was doing and he sighed.

"Okay...okay..." John stood to face the smug Alpha smiling at him, then proceeded to retrieve the hidden cigarettes from under the skull and toss them to the prat, who just tossed them over his Shoulder.

"I don't need those anymore. I'm going to Dartmoor." He said victoriously and then started to head out of the living room to pack some over night things, this shouldn't take more than two, three day's tops.

"You go on ahead Henry, we'll follow later." He instructed to the man behind him who was even more confused than before and looking up at the door the detective just left through and scrambling to his feet.

"Er sorry, so you _are _coming down then?" He asked completely baffled and Sherlock strode back in for a moment, excited.

"Twenty year old disappearance; A monstrous hound? I wouldn't miss this for the world." He confirmed and then strode back out of the room quickly. John stood gaping at the door, he'd been had, now Sherlock knew he'd have to think up a new hiding place for the cigarettes, one that John wouldn't find so easily. Not to mention, bloody _Dartmoor_? _Really_?

"Uh. Sorry but is he always like that?" Henry asked as he finished up the cigarette he'd been smoking since he sat back down after Sherlock's deduction of his morning, John's head flew around startled, he'd forgotten Henry was there.

"Yeah, pretty much. Listen it's going to take us a while to get packed so you should listen to Sherlock and just head off now, we'll nip in later when we arrive and get settled in Dartmoor. I'll see you out." John confirmed and Henry nodded and made his way to the door followed closely by John.

"If you don't mind me asking, John, but you're an Omega like me, yes?" Henry questioned, looking over his shoulder at the doctor whose eyes flicked to Henry's and he nodded tersely, he had a felling he knew where this was going.

"I see, and Mr Holmes is an Alpha. I knew that the moment I walked into this place, how can you both cohabit so easily without, uh, well _you know_. Do you have some sort of an arrangement?" Henry asked blushing and John just cleared his throat and pulled open the front door giving a short answer.

"Sherlock, doesn't do, _anything_." Henry apologised for his forwardness, recommended a B&B in Dartmoor called _'The Cross Keys' _and left, when the door closed behind him John shut his eyes and took in deep breath, Henry's little question, appropriate or not, reminded him of a small flaw in Sherlock's little jaunt to Devon. John was due a heat in the next week and that could happen when they were in Dartmoor, where John couldn't just pick-up and take a thirty minute cab drive to Harry's.

_Oh God_! He was _so_ looking forward to this conversation.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Haven't You Noticed**

John was deep in thought as he climbed the stairs, ever since he had moved in to 221B, Sherlock had told him he didn't want to know anything about his '_biological cock-up_' so John had promised never mentioned it. Whenever it was his time he would call up Harry to make arrangements to stay at hers over his heat or spend it with whatever Girlfriend/Boyfriend he had at the time, then he'd tell Sherlock he'd be gone for a week and Sherlock would rarely notice he was gone. It was perfect.

This was strangely enough the first time a case would interfere with his cycle and he honestly didn't know what to do. On the one hand if he joins Sherlock in Dartmoor, they could get it done and be back home by tomorrow without incident, it was very unlikely that he would go into heat in the next 24 hours, well unless he was unnecessarily stressed out or really upset. However on the other hand, his heat was close, he could feel his body getting ready for it and his hormone levels rising. That meant that his heat could come at anytime in the next five days and if he and Sherlock didn't get this case solved quickly and without incident well... _disaster_.

"JOHN! WHERE ARE YOU?" Sherlock called from his the living room, frightening the life out of John who was just outside the door.

"I'm here! Jesus, did you have to shout so loudly?" He grumbled but Sherlock just ignored him.

"Where is my purple dress shirt? I've looked everywhere for it and I can't find it." Sherlock asked irritated and John raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms.

"Why do you want that shirt specifically? It's in your wardrobe, Mrs Hudson ironed it yesterday." Sherlock just snapped his fingers and shot off towards his bedroom again, John counted to three before Sherlock came sliding back in.

"Ok, I've looked there twice now and I can't see it! So... Where is it John?" Sherlock growled and John smirked and strode lazily into Sherlock's bedroom and over to the open wardrobe, Sherlock wasn't far behind and appeared just in time to see John pull out the folded Shirt from the shelf at the bottom.

"Oh! Who folds up a shirt after ironing it anyway?!" Sherlock sniffed and went to snatch the shirt from John's hands but somehow his body rebelled and he ended up gently removing it from John's hands and then bent to nuzzle the side of the Omega's face,taking in his scent, thanking his good little omega for caring for his big, strong, Alpha as nature intended. When he realized what he was doing Sherlock jumped back and cleared his throat, avoiding eye contact with John as he turned to pack the shirt away, John sighed behind him.

"Hmm. Yes we need to have a little chat about that." John drawled, clearly amused at the Alpha's display of affection and Sherlock stopped moving to look over his shoulder.

"About what?" He asked, eyes narrowed.

"Sherlock, around this time of the month, do you notice anything strange about me?" John asked slowly and Sherlock frowned and thought.

"No, of course not. What's that got to do with... that _thing_ that just happened?" John just looked at him.

"Really? You can't think of one recurring scenario that happens to me on a monthly basis?" He asked skeptically.

"No, I can't. Now will you just tell me what's going on so we can finish packing and maybe if we're lucky we'll catch the train that leaves in an hour!" Sherlock snapped, John's instincts told him to back off from the irritated Alpha and this time John did what he was told and took two steps back. Sherlock's own instincts were telling him that this was bad, wrong, unnatural and that he should apologise and comfort his distressed Omega; he resisted. AND FOR THE LAST TIME JOHN WAS NOT _HIS_!

"It's my heat Sherlock!" Sherlock's eyes went wide and he dove over the bed so it was firmly between him and the doctor, it would've been funny if it wasn't so insulting.

"I knew something wasn't right! I've been feeling strange all morning! Why didn't you tell me it was your time?! When did it start!?" Sherlock yelled with a disgusted look on his face, John tried hard not to act hurt, he told himself it was just the hormones and not the fact that his best friend found him disgusting.

"Firstly it _hasn't _started yet, if it had started then you wouldn't be able to take a flying leap across the bed and insult me! Secondly you've been feeling strange because my body is preparing itself for heat and that puts a change in my scent that you have unconsciously, as an alpha, picked up on; that means that you're body is preparing itself for my heat and your instuncts are telling you to look after me and lastly I didn't tell you because I didn't know we would be taking a merry jaunt to bloody Devon!" John screamed, bloody hormones, bloody Sherlock!

"Why haven't I noticed these effects before?" Sherlock asked slightly bashful, he hadn't meant to upset John, really he hadn't, he just hated all this Alpha/Omega biology shit.

"That's because I usually piss off to Harry's or to someone who I've been dating, for a week." John sighed, he was already fed up with this conversation, he could see Sherlock start to open his mouth and held up a hand.

"Look, as long as we solve this case quickly and get back home, I'll still be able to piss of to Harry's, well... maybe Sarah's this month actually since my last three heats have been on my own and I'm gagging for it to be honest." John's eyes got a little glassy there at the thought of spending his heat with a real Alpha, even if it was only Sarah. Sherlock noticed this and growled under his breath, the possessive sound brought John out of his little hormone induced fantasy and he shrugged apologetically at Sherlock.

"Anyway like I was saying, my heat is due in the next five days and I only just noticed this symptoms this morning so we do have some time. I normally don't do this until my heat officially starts but I'll take some birth control, that should rein in my hormonal fluctuations and then I'll get packed okay?" Sherlock shifted around the bed warily.

"Will that stop me from reacting to this, _thing_." John winced slightly, which Sherlock noticed and was about to comment on but John interrupted him.

"I'm not sure, it should in theory prevent you from reacting but since you're body's already tuned in to mine, I don't know. I'm going upstairs to pack, I'll meet you outside, just leave your bag at the door and I'll grab it with my own on the way out." John said indifferently and turned to go upstairs.

"John-" Sherlock began.

"No, not now, okay." John murmured and left quickly. Sherlock groaned and sat down on the bed, he hadn't meant to hurt John, he really didn't but he wasn't used to '_hormonal John_' in fact from what John just told him he hasn't even met '_hormonal John_' before... but lots of _other_ people have.

Another possessive growl escaped Sherlock's throat and he cursed his stupid biology, this was another reason he hated Mycroft, why did that tubby arse get to be a Beta whilst Sherlock was born Alpha. Uh! He hated everything... except John, John was nice. Whether he was in heat or not, perhaps Sherlock should tell him that sometime, it might make him happy.

"God, I sound like an idiot." Sherlock growled at himself and then stood up to finish his packing so he could get outside to hail a cab.

_**/**_

It only took John fifteen minutes to do his packing, it was rather soothing actually, the repetitive motions helping to calm him down and make him realise he was acting like a 50 year old woman. It wasn't Sherlock's fault that John was so sensitive, the poor Alpha had never dealt with an Omega on the verge of heat before and he had no desire to either, John couldn't stay upset over that.

He had just pulled a jumper over his red button up and was reaching for his jacket when he remembered to take the birth control pill. He took a pack from his bedside table and popped one out to swallow, slipping the rest of the pack into his jacket pocket, he'd need those if he was going to Sarah's when he got back anyway. As a doctor John found that Omega birth control was severely lacking, it would only be effective against pregnancy if you took it right as you were going into heat, that's why John alway kept a pack of condoms next to the pills, you could never be too careful.

John looked up when he heard the front door open, Sherlock must be done, he'd better hurry since Sherlock never had any trouble hailing a cab and most of the drivers hated waiting. He grabbed his bag and started jogging down the stairs and just like he'd requested Sherlock had left his bag at the bottom of the stairs for John to grab, which he did and then strode out the door, pulling it closed by the knocker.

He was about to greet Sherlock when he heard shouting coming from inside the sandwich shop and glanced over just in time to see Mrs Hudson launch a loaf of fresh, baked bread over Mr Chatterjee's head and crash against the glass door, making it shake with the force.

"Oh! Looks like Mrs Hudson finally got to the wife in Doncaster." John said to Sherlock who had been watching the fight amused, he glanced out the corner of his eye at John, the man didn't seem upset anymore so Sherlock decided to not mention the situation from upstairs and just get on with things.

"Mmm. Wait 'til she finds out about the one in Islamabad." He drawled and John snickered and got in the taxi with their bags, closely followed by Sherlock.

"Paddington Station, please." He said to the driver and off they went to catch a hound.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: So Awkward**

"_God_! That was a nightmare Sherlock! This is why I hate traveling by train, it took so long and now I've got an arse like a pancake!" John snapped at his chuckling flatmate as they walked out of the station together.

"Don't be silly John, your arse is as perky as it normally is." Sherlock teased and chuckled when John growled at him and flipped him the V.

"Besides I know the real reason you hate train travel so much, it's because you sister lost you on one when you were 8. They make you nervous, the longer the journey, the more nervous you get." Sherlock deduced correctly, if John's sputtering was anything to go by.

"Should've known, you'd know." John pouted and Sherlock grinned at him.

"Yes. You should have." John shook his head and giggled at him. Hah! There it was, Sherlock always prefers happy John to grumpy John.

"So where are we off to anyway? It's still a ways to Dartmoor, shall we call a cab." John asked when they walked out onto the street, Sherlock just huffed and started walking towards the car park.

"No need, I hired a car before we left the flat. The gentleman should be waiting for us with the keys." John stopped dead, wide eyed. Now, John could drive but he hadn't renewed his license since he'd returned from Afghanistan so he wasn't legal to drive and if the amount of money spent on cabs was any indication Sherlock couldn't drive at all so who the hell would be driving?

Sherlock hadn't stopped when John did and he was too busy shaking hands with a man in front of a black 4x4 to notice John wasn't at his side. it wasn't until the man handed the detective the keys to the car that Sherlock noticed that John had fallen behind and he turned to look at him exasperated.

"Come On!" He called over to John who rolled his eyes and jogged over.

"Sherlock? What are you doing?" He asked and Sherlock snorted and grabbed the bag that John had resting on his right shoulder, throwing it in the back of the car where he'd just tossed his own as John was making his way over.

"Putting the bags in the car, John. Really I thought that was obvious." He drawled smugly and John narrowed his eyes.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, Sherlock. Who the hell is going to be driving?" Sherlock tossed the keys in the air with one hand and caught them in the other as he made his way around to the drivers side.

"I am." He stated matter of factly and got in, John nearly had a heart attack when the engine started up and jump into the passengers side, leaning over and turning off the ignition.

"What do you mean 'I am'? You can't even drive!" John panicked, pulling the keys out and shoving them in his pocket.

"Of course I can bloody drive!" Sherlock countered, annoyed and reached over to retrieve his keys but John twisted to the side to avoid the hand.

"Oh Yeah? Then where's your licence?" John prodded and Sherlock pulled back and looked away, clearing his throat.

"Okay so I don't officially have a licence but I can drive John, I'm not stupid." The alpha huffed and John scoffed, shaking his head and jumped out of the car.

"How can you possibly know how to drive but don't have a licence?" He asked incredulously when Sherlock jumped out after him.

"I've read all the books, John. Not to mention the fact I could practically build one if I so chose." The man snapped and once again made a lunge for the pocket his keys were being held hostage in.

"That's not the bloody same, you idiot! You can't drive a car by just reading a bloody book!" John snarled and jumped back out of Sherlock's reach.

"John, I'm losing my patience, give me the keys." John just narrowed his eyes and backed up some more, he wasn't expecting the tall detective dive forward and grab him by the shoulders. Sherlock slammed him against the side of the car and growled into his face.

"Give me, the keys, John." He repeated slowly, Sherlock didn't know what was wrong with him, all that he did know was that John was telling him '_no_' and he didn't like it. Not one bit.

"No!" John yelped and and started struggling against Sherlock's hold, John twisted, kicked and clawed but to no avail, Sherlock just flattened his body against John's and growled louder. Since when was the skinny bastard so strong?! John and Sherlock had fought before but Sherlock was never nearly this strong so what the hell was going on? That was when a tingle spread through John's muscles and he went boneless.

_Oh no! Oh hell NO! _

It was the heat; that's what the difference was, John had read about this in medical journals. It wasn't that Sherlock had gotten stronger, it was that John had gotten weaker, his body sensing that the Alpha was displeased and wanted submission, it didn't matter that John's brain was saying '_Fucking No! Never in a million years_!' and it didn't matter that Sherlock probably didn't realise what he was doing, this was just what happened to Alpha's and Omega's in heat, primal instinct took over.

A pleased rumble by his ear brought John back from his internal panic and he kept absolutely still as Sherlock dropped his head and rubbed his cheek against John's, '_scent marking_' John's mind supplied, this is what an Alpha did to an Omega to mark his territory; this is what an Alpha did when he had chosen a mate. John's panic was rising, he had to get Sherlock off him _now_! Before the man did something he would regret. Sherlock, sensing the Omega beneath him was distressed tried to soothe him by running his tongue along the underside of John's jaw, it had the opposite effect and John nearly jumped a foot in the air.

Sherlock frowned, that wasn't right, his Omega should be leaning into him and bearing his neck in pleasure, not jumping away as if afraid of him. Sherlock tried again, this time nuzzling John's neck and rubbing his shoulders, that was when he heard the jingle of keys falling on the ground. John had sneakily pulled the car keys from his pocket and dropped them. Sherlock's grip slackened when he looked down to see what the noise was and John shoved him hard jumping away, Sherlock snarled, pupils blown and was about to pursue John but stopped when John called his name.

"Sherlock." John said calmly, he saw the exact moment when Sherlock came back to himself and realised what he'd done. The dark haired man swallowed and turned away from John, dropping momentarily to grab the keys off the ground.

"I thought you said that if you took birth control this would stop happening?" Sherlock rumbled coldly, playing with the keys, his back still turned.

"No, I said it would rein in my hormones." John ducked his head apologetically, he supposed he hadn't been very clear about that.

"That only means my scent will stop bothering you and my emotions won't be all over the place. It can't undo what's already started." Sherlock tensed and stretched out a hand to gesture towards where he had pinned John.

"Then _what_ was that?" John still had his head ducked so he flicked his eyes up at the detective who was now glaring at John over his shoulder.

"That was you unconsciously sensing that I'm a bit weaker than normal and asserting your dominance but holding me down and scent marking me, it's what Alpha's do when they choose a mate." He saw Sherlock twitch at that.

"John, you're my friend but I want nothing to do with this, do you understand?" Sherlock said coldly and John winced but nodded.

"Yes. I know you don't. As long as I don't challenge you and we keep a safe distance, this won't happen again. Promise." John assured and Sherlock nodded once.

"Fine. Now how about I prove to you I can drive. If I can maneuver us out of the car park will you let me drive us to Dartmoor please?" John frowned at Sherlock but threw his hands up and agreed.

"Right, get in and let's go." Sherlock ordered and stormed back to the drivers side, just after John climbed in after him Sherlock cleared his throat to get the Omega's attention.

"We never speak of this, understand." It wasn't a question but John nodded anyway.

Sherlock proved he was in fact an apt driver like he'd said and had them on their way in no time. It was the most awkward drive in history.

_**/**_

Half an hour later and the silence was deafening. John and Sherlock had avoided eye contact so far and apart from the occasional sigh or cough, hadn't made any sound. John wasn't sure how much more he could take so when he saw buildings in the distance he did an inner happy dance, it wouldn't be long now and then they could get back to being a consulting detective and his blogger.

"I think we should stop for some air." Sherlock said finally breaking the silence and John looked at him curiously.

"Why? We're nearly there." He asked confused but Sherlock was already pulling up next to a large rock formation.

"Grab that map and those binoculars; you'll need them." Then he was out of the car and climbing up the largest rock to get a look around, leaving John sitting for a moment wondering what just happened. The truth was John wasn't the only one uncomfortable with the silence, Sherlock was demented with it, don't misread the situation though; he did like quiet, it let him think uninterrupted but after what happened... Sherlock was feeling a little _disturbed_. It wasn't John's fault about what happened, not really, the poor man couldn't control what was happening to him but still who else could Sherlock be angry with?

"Myself." He whispered miserably and it was true, he should be pissed off at himself for giving in to his base instincts again. John couldn't control his body when he was on his heat but Sherlock absolutely refused to believe that same went for him. He glanced down at John who had strode over to stand at the base of the rock and was reading the map.

"There's Baskerville." He said pointing to the buildings they had seen in the distance, and Sherlock glanced at them whilst John looked around.

"That's Grimpen Village." John said and again pointing behind him, making Sherlock's gaze shift again and then John glanced back to the map.

"So that must be... Yeah. Dewer's Hollow." He said looking over at the forestry to the left of Baskerville.

"What's that?" Sherlock asked pointing to a fenced up area between the Hollow and Baskerville, John looked through the binoculars and blinked a few times, was that a...

"Minefield? Technically Baskerville's an army base, so I guess they've always been keen to keep people out." John hypothesized.

"Clearly." Sherlock drawled and stared for a few moments before making his way back down the rocks, by the time he reached the bottom, John was already back in the car, he looked upset. Sherlock sighed and and strode over getting in and sitting for a moment.

"I'm sorry." He said quickly, John's eyes widened and his head spun around to look at Sherlock.

"What?" He squeaked, Sherlock blushed and looked out the window.

"I'm. Sorry." He gritted out between clenched teeth and John smiled, he'd heard him, he was just enjoying the rarity of Sherlock apologising to him.

"It's fine, Sherlock." Sherlock's shoulders slumped in relief and he nodded.

"Good... Good." Then he started the car and they were back on the road to Grimpen, this time when John looked out the window he was smiling. Sherlock might be an arse but he was a nice arse, John supposed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Asserting Dominance**

By the time Sherlock had drove into Grimpen the last traces of awkwardness had faded and he and John were now sitting in a comfortable silence, the relief they felt at the loss of the previous tension was palpable and John was having a hard time keeping a grin from his face. He managed in the end though, after all he didn't want to frighten the natives.

That was when Sherlock spotted 'The Cross Keys' and turned to go down towards it, as they drove down to the car park around the back of the cottagey looking B&B, they noticed a large group of people crowded around a young man, John looked curiously at them but Sherlock only flicked his eyes to them for a second. _Tourists_, he had no time for them. Once parked they jumped out of the car and started walking past the group of people.

"...Three times a day, tell your, friends, tell_ anyone_." They heard as they walked past but then John's footsteps faltered and sniffed the air gently, that man was an Alpha, a fertile Alpha. The only way John could smell that much detail was if the young Alpha had recently had sex, perhaps earlier that morning. Apparently he wasn't the only one smelling it since Sherlock's nose twitched as well and wrinkled in distaste but then another scent hit his nose and he flicked his eyes to John. John's eyes were a little half-lidded and he was panting under his breath, he was aroused, another Alpha's scent was arousing John! If there was on thing Sherlock _really _hated about Omega heat cyles, it was the bloody scenting thing!

"Don't be strangers... and remember, stay away from the moor at night if you value your lives." The man called and John licked his lips. Sherlock could feel the growl starting to build in his throat but he absolutely refused to lose control again, it had happened way too often today, instead he swallowed down the possessive sound and pulled up his coat collar. Sherlock almost glowed with happiness when the movement drew John's attention back to him and not the little piss ant Alpha, except that John was looking at him funny.

"I'm cold." He defended and John smirked a little bit, it was only late August. When they entered the charming little Pub they were greeted by a large, smiling scotsman behind the bar.

"Hello boys! What can I do for you?" He called out cheerfully and Sherlock just gave John a look that said '_YOU deal with this, I don't like him_.', John sighed and gestured for Sherlock to stand aside before he strode up to the bar.

***Sniff, Sniff* **

_Oh_! Another Alpha, except this one was bonded. Pity, he had a nice scent to him. John gave himself an internal shake, he was starting to doubt his earlier prognosis that this heat wouldn't come in the 24 hours, he was already looking for a potential partner, he managed to swallow down his instinct to present his neck to this new Alpha, it was made aesier by the scent of another Omgea mixing with his.

"Hi, I'm looking to book a two bed, bedroom for my friend and I." The big Alpha's nose twitched and he looked at John knowingly, then his eyes followed Sherlock who was wandering about the place being nosey.

"Of course, I'll just check what's available. Oh! by the way, just incase of anything '_unplanned_', you should know that our rooms have special sealing in the walls that prevent any pheromones from smelling up the whole place." John blushed and cleared his throat.

"Yes, thank you-"

"Gary." The man replied and smiled before turning to the little cubbies of keys behind him.

"_Gary_." John finished and nodded, Gary let out a tut and turned to look at John apologetically.

"Sorry but I only have three queen sized bedrooms left, would that be alright?" John's eyes squeezed shut for a second but he nodded and gave a tight smile, he was _not_ looking forward to telling Sherlock the good news.

"How long will you boys be staying?" Gary prodded.

"Um. We aren't quite sure, can you book us up for three nights? We can always book an extra day or two if our stay goes well. " Gary nodded.

"That'll be £150 please." John's could've cried, this was the real reason that Sherlock didn't want to do the booking, John sighed and nodded again, turning to get the money out of his wallet, that was when he saw the Alpha from earlier standing outside the door, talking on his phone. He wouldn't exactly say the man was attractive and he looked a little wet behind the ears but... he smelled _gorgeous_.

"Eh, sorry we couldn't do a double room for you boys." Gary said loudly and handed over the keys, John was never happier for a distraction in his entire life, he hated this part of his heat. All unbonded Omega's went through it, this sort of '_selection process_', when an Omega began scenting for a strong, fertile Alpha to claim them.

"That's fine." John replied quickly, scolding himself for his lack of control, then something dawned on him about the way Gary had said '_sorry_'.

"We, We're not..." He tried, gesturing over his shoulder at Sherlock but when Gary looked at him oddly he just gave up and handed over the money, what was the point denying something the no one would listen to after all.

"Ta. I'll just get your change." Gary chirped and John glanced down at a pile of receipts on the counter distractedly, he frowned when he noticed there was one for a large order of meat, far too much for a vegetarian restaurant. John looked up to make sure Gary was distracted, then he gently tore the receipt from the pin it was under and stuffed it in his pocket quickly. When Gary turned to give him his change, he smiled and started making small talk. Sherlock strode back into view just as Gary had walked around the bar to stand close to John.

"God bless, Henry Knight and his monster from hell." Sherlock heard and then glanced up when John answered.

"You ever seen it? The Hound?" John asked and Sherlock's eyes narrowed when the big Alpha leaned into John a little bit.

"Me, naw. Fletcher has." Both Sherlock and John followed the man's gaze when he gestured to the young Alpha still talking on his phone outside, the smell of aroused Omega hit Sherlock again and he sniffed discreetly at the air, secretly salivating over the delicious, sweet scent. Even if it did bother him to no end that John was reacting to another.

What was it about that punyAlpha that was setting John off?! He had to know. He could hear John still chatting away to Gary and his bonded Omega as he strutted out of the building, snatching up a half empty glass of beer on his way and then slid up behind this, _Fletcher_ who had just finished his phone call and was sitting at one of the bench's.

"Mind if I join you?" Sherlock drawled and Fletcher looked up at him and gestured for him to do so before turning his back to Sherlock again. _That_ just pissed Sherlock off and he sat down moodily, glaring at the back of the other Alpha's head, he composed himself enough to force a smile on his face.

"It's not true, is it? You haven't actually seen this... Hound thing." He grinned in a friendly manner and Fletcher turned to regard at the other him suspiciously.

"You from the papers?" He asked, his accent grating on Sherlock's nerves, he swallowed the urge to growl at the annoying brat and continued on.

"No, nothing like that. Just curious. Have you seen it?" He asked again.

"Maybe" _Arrogant little shit_!

"Got any proof." Sherlock taunted and Fletcher scoffed at him and smirked challengingly making Sherlock growl lowly.

"Why would I tell you if I did? 'Scuse me." He said and started to get up but stopped when the scent of a pre-heat Omega hit his nose and he looked up just in time to see John striding over with a drink.

"I called Henry-" John started but Sherlock interrupted him, trying really hard not to tackle the Alpha scenting the air above them for John.

"Bets off John, sorry." He said instead.

"What?" John asked confused and both he and Sherlock saw Fletcher puff up a bit.

"Bet?" He addressed John but Sherlock ignored him and just kept going, looking at his watch.

"My plan needs darkness, reckon we've got another couple hours of light-" Fletcher growled at him and addressed John again.

"Wait, wait, what bet?" He asked, looking John up and down. The Omega in John was enjoying the attention and the urge to bare his throat was overwhelming but the _John_ in John was bloody affronted.

"Oh, I bet John here fifty quid that you couldn't prove you'd seen the Hound." Sherlock taunted but Fletchers eyes never moved from John's, he winked at the doctor then jabbed a finger at Sherlock.

"Well, you're gonna lose your money, mate." He snarked and Sherlock narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah?" The detective challenged and Fletcher huffed and pulled out his mobile. John was panting a little under his breath by this point, he was enjoying the two Alpha's display's of dominance as they taunted each other above him. Sherlock noticed this and swallowed, he'd have to end this charade quickly and get John out of here and away from this enemy Alpha whose eyes were darkening when the sweet scent of an aroused Omega penetrated the air. If Sherlock was honest, this little shit Alpha wasn't the only one having a reaction, the poor detective had to squeeze his legs together hard to prevent any further stimuli, his mind was screaming at him to grab John and rub his scent all over him.

"Yeah. I've seen it. Only about a month ago, up at the Hollow. It was foggy, mind - couldn't make much out" Fletcher bragged as he flicked through the photo's on his phone and Sherlock scoffed, glad for something to focus on instead of the delicious scent in the air. He really _hated _his biology.

"I see. No witnesses, I suppose."

"No, but-"

"Never are." Sherlock tilted his head to the side smugly and Fletcher narrowed his eyes and lifted himself up further into more domineering stance, John shamefully felt drool gathering at the back of his throat.

"There." Fletcher shoved his phone into Sherlock's face and Sherlock snorted at the perfectly, normal looking dog, walking across the moor.

"Is that it? It's not exactly proof, is it?" Fletcher frowned and then showed the picture to John, who bent forward slightly to see it, the Alpha holding the phone looked pleased until Sherlock opened his mouth again.

"Sorry, John. I win."Sherlock said smugly and picked up the stolen glass of beer as if to drink from it, of course he wouldn't really, would be disgusting if he did. Fletcher's eyes shifted back to him and he started rambling about bad feelings and imaginary friends who worked for the MOD, Skerlock just scoffed at him skeptically and looked to John as if to say '_See? This Alpha is nothing special, after all_.', of course that would be the moment that Fletcher pulled out a giant, concrete cast of a dogs paw and flashed it off. The young Alpha smirked at the look on Sherlock's face and John pounced on this opportunity.

"Er. We did say fifty?" John had to hold in the smile that threatened to break free as Sherlock twitched and handed him a fifty pound note before jumping up to stalk off in a mood. John sighed happily and finished off his drink before he stood to follow, he would need to stop off at a bathroom after he'd caught up to Sherlock though, pre-heat erections were such a bitch.

"Hey, you should find yourself a better Alpha. Lovely little Omega like you." Fletcher growled seductively and John's eyelids drooped, he was just about to reply when Sherlock practically screeched his name from beside their car, John shook his head and blushed apologetically at Fletcher before walking quickly and uncomfortably over to Sherlock who was oddly enough standing with the back door of the 4x4 open.

"Sorry, Sherlock. My heat must be closer than I-" Sherlock grabbed John's arm and hauled him forward, just managing to choke out '_Forgive me, John but I can't help it_.' and then tossed John into the back of the car, face down on his belly, then jumped in after him to straddle John's hips, slamming the car door shut.

"Sherlock?! Wha- Mmmmm!" John's protest drifted off into a moan when Sherlock bent over him and bit him firmly on the back of his neck, his whole body that was tensed for resistance suddenly felt boneless and a purr fell from his lips when the big Alpha's hands slammed down on either side of his head. Sherlock seemed to be unsatisfied with this position though so he ended up reaching one arm down John's body and pulled him up on his knees so his arse was pressed against Sherlock's crotch, this made the Alpha moan and his teeth pressed a little harder against John's flesh, just one more push away from breaking the skin.

John being the good little Omega he was, sensed his Alpha wanted more and pressed back against Sherlock, rolling his hips rhythmically. He wouldn't be able to take penetration until his heat officially began and he started lubricating but he could still get Sherlock off like this, besides Sherlock's knot wouldn't be ready at this stage either. John whimpered at the thought of Sherlock fucking him and knotting him and the Alpha in question, who was now bearing down on John with hard fast thrusts of his hips, reached a hand around to John's crotch to stroke him and started to suck and lick against the back of John's neck, not once releasing the hold his teeth had.

They thrusted frantically against each other for what seemed like and age until Sherlock growled into John's neck and released himself in his trousers, the fluids seeping through and dampening the back of John's. The feel of the warm liquid against his backside set John off and he keened loudly and came in his own trousers. Once he was sure his Omega was finished, Sherlock released the back of John's neck revealing a huge purple bruise, satisfied with the state of John's nape, Sherlock bent down to lick long strips up across the mark and then instinctively reached below his belt to gather a samll glob of come to rub into the bruised flesh. Now no other Alpha would try to claim John, Sherlock had marked him and his scent was mixed with the Omega's, that's how it would remain 'til John showered.

Sherlock, still lost in the primality of the moment lay flat against John and nuzzled his hair, it was John who came out of the pheromone induced, lapse of control first and realized what had happened, what Sherlock had done. He knew he had to do something but he didn't want to move and startle the big content Alpha. John swallowed and turned his head slowly to the side, staring at the upholstery.

"_Sherlock_." He whispered and clenched his eyes shut when Sherlock stopped moving and tensed.

"John?" There was only a nod in response and Sherlock pushed himself up and kicked open the door behind him, sliding out. John was still on his knees, staring at the seats as Sherlock cleard his throat and paced with his hands in prayer stance at the side of the car.

"I need to change and so do you; we need to take our bags up to the room anyway. You have the key, yes? Good. I'll meet you inside." Sherlock rambled after what seemed like years and then grabbed the bags from the car boot and speed walked into '_The Cross Keys_' leaving John sweaty and stinking of sex in the back of the 4x4. Wonderful, now things were going to get awkward again and this time John didn't know how they could fix it.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Conflicted**

John didn't know how long he sat there on his knees in the back of the 4x4 and to be honest, he didn't much care either, Sherlock would just have to wait, he had to understand _exactly_ what just happend. To his belief, one of the reasons Sherlock never wanted to to deal with an Omega's heat was because he couldn't '_function_' as an Alpha should, and yet he was '_functioning_' just fine when he pinned John down, rutting against him and rubbing his scent all over the doctor in an effort scare of any other Alpha's. Which was another thing, John hadn't even seen Sherlock _twitch_ when he was reacting to Fletcher, as far as John knew, Sherlock's irritation had been because of the young Alpha's taunting. Then again he did assume that Sherlock was infertile so he wouldn't really have been looking for signs.

John groaned in exasperation and pushed himself up into a proper sitting position, swinging his legs around so they were dangling outside the open door. He could play that scene over and over in his head all he liked but John knew he'd never understand what was going through Sherlock's mind, which left the question; what was going through _John's_? That was the million pound question.

As far back as John could remember, he could never recall submitting so quickly and easily to anyone, he had always fought against the Alpha trying to dominate and claim him, this was why he had managed to stay unbonded for so long. He'd never trusted an Alpha to _not_ sink their teeth in and claim John as their own but when Sherlock's teeth had gripped at that tender skin below his hair it was... _bliss_, the pleasure he'd felt from that pressure against his nape was like nothing he'd ever felt before and this was all just so bloody confusing! He supposed a reason he trusted Sherlock not to bite was because he knew the man, really, actually _knew_ him but then again he'd _known _Alpha's before and he still didn't submit like that, _Ugh_! It seemed analyzing his own mind wasn't going to help much either, John sighed, closing his eyes and breathed deep.

_Wait a minute_!

John's eyes popped open and he flipped over to his hands and knees again, face pressed against the seat fabric.

"Holy shit! What is _that_?" John moaned and rubbed his face against the backrest, was this _Sherlock's _scent, good God! It was amazing, John had never smelled anything like it before, it was so musky and fertile, he couldn't get enough. Was that the reason John submitted so easily? Because of that lovely scent? It was the best answer John had come up with, so maybe John just...

"_I want him_." John startled himself at the sound of his own voice and the more he sat there surrounded by that addictive scent the more he realized that, yes he _did _want him! He wanted Sherlock. Sherlock who was loyal, strong, innovative, resourceful, a freaking genius! And if John was honest, the best looking Alpha he'd ever come across. Any babies born from them bonding would be perfect!

John pulled back from his snuffling mission and grinned like he was high, that was the solution to all his problems, he would bond with Sherlock.

***Thump!* **

John jumped and nearly slammed his head against the roof of the car, panting from fright John threw a look over his Shoulder to see Sherlock standing outside the car again, bags at his feet and a clean pair of trousers on.

"You were taking too long so I got cleaned up in the pub bathroom. Hurry up and get out, you need to clean up too... and take our bags up to our room while you're at it." Sherlock said coldly, not once looking at John. That was right, he couldn't bond with Sherlock because Sherlock didn't want to bond with anyone, especially John if the speed he took off at earlier was any indication. John nodded sadly and slid out of the car to grab the bags Sherlock had dumped on the ground, he tried not to wince when Sherlock backed away from him. As John was walking away he heard a hissing sound and glanced around to see Sherlock spraying a can of air freshener around and inside the car with his scarf held up to his face.

"Hurry up, John! We've got somewhere to be!" Sherlock growled, pulling the scarf away for a moment before going back to his desperate task, John sighed resigned and walked quickly inside. After all he'd invaded Afghanistan and survived, he could survive this too, _maybe_...

_**/**_

It was another awkward silence in the car whilst Sherlock drove up to Baskerville, only this time the tension was much worse. When John had come back, sliding into the passengers seat and asked where they were going, Sherlock just ignored him and started up car that now smelled like '_Winter Plum Blossom_'. He knew he'd hurt the man, John's face had said it all and his eyes dulled as he turned to look out the window, Sherlock didn't like it, it made his stomach all twisty and crampy but he didn't know what to do or say, his whole world view had just shifted and all because of one primal, instinctual act, even if he had found a way to control it, however unconventional it may be.

When he'd strode inside '_The Cross Keys_' to get cleaned up, almost everyone's nose twitched and their eyes looked towards him, everyone including Fletcher who had migrated into the pub for a beer. Sherlock did take a little pleasure in the glare the little sod had sent his way but it was mostly overshadowed by the embarrassment he felt, if everyone could smell him, then everyone knew he'd lost control, surrendered his intelligence to the primal mind and that was the worst thing that could ever happen to him, _ever_.

Sherlock had stomped into the bathrooms, unwilling to wait for John, who was taking far too long by the way. It was the stupid Omega's fault anyway Sherlock snarled in his mind as he changed his bottoms. When the pissed off Alpha had been doing up his belt he'd caught a whiff of John's scent on his shirt and promptly dropped his chin down to sniff at it gently. _No_, he couldn't blame John, it was one thing for an Alpha to resist his instincts, it was another for an Omega to do the same, let alone on the verge of heat and surrounded with Alpha pheromones like the ones Fletcher and then Sherlock where letting off. When Sherlock raised his head again he realized that the smell of John on his clothes had calmed him down and it was then that Sherlock had an idea and did a little experiment when he returned to the car. He had made sure to be especially cruel to John and upset him, not a nice thing to do yes but necessary to test his theory.

When John started walking away looking like a kicked puppy, Sherlock's instinct to go over and comfort the Omega, to wrap him in his arms and lick at his neck soothingly was overwhelming so he had pulled his scarf up over his face and breathed in deep the lingering scent of John, the urge disappeared and had smirked to himself and pulled out a can of air freshener he had snatched from behind the bar, to get rid of any lingering stink of sex from the car.

He had found a way to control his instincts so no more incidents of dominance took place, however it seemed that Sherlock had miscalculated his instinct as a _friend_ to comfort John when he was miserable, hence the twisty, crampy stomach. Sherlock glanced out the corner of his eye when John's head swivelled back from the window to look straight ahead, Sherlock desperately wanted to say something to the man and cheer him up but not only could he not think of anything, he was didn't want to say something and encourage any '_feelings_' John may have developed from their little lapse of control earlier.

Sherlock wouldn't have thought anything of it if John wasn't on the verge of a heat, well, that and the fact he seemed to have grown a quick attachment to Sherlock's scent. Oh yeah, Sherlock had seen John rubbing his face against the seats in the back, it was why he had ran back inside the pub to grab the air freshener, John was also unconsciously sniffing the air every two minutes to try and get another pull of the detective's scent but then wrinkling his nose when all he got was a waft of artificial plum. Sherlock had also noticed that although John made sure the mark on the back of his neck was covered up, John hadn't washed off Sherlock's... uh '_Special Cologne_', making the possessive Alpha in Sherlock hum in pleasure. Sherlock cleared his throat and took another discreet sniff at his shirt, much better.

Now back to Sherlock's original point, Omega's were sensitive to emotion before, during and after a heat so if one got it into their head that they wanted to bond with a specific Alpha, well, that's what they'd do. Of course that's taking into consideration the fact that most Alpha's would consent to a bond, Sherlock on the other hand had no interest, _none_, with bonding, even if the thought of John belonging to him was an appealing one. Even though he quite liked the feeling of John's body pressed against his and the smell of short man, the _taste _of him, _Oh_! Sherlock gulped noisily in the car and he breathed in again, he saw John's neck twitch with the resistance of not turning to look over at him and frowned. The hell was wrong with him?

Fortunately for the consulting detective Baskerville had just come into view and he had to drag himself out of his confusing thoughts, he'd need to be firing on all cylinders for this one or risk getting them shot, something tells him that, that would make John just a _little _bit more unhappy than he was now. Speaking of the doctor, John looked over at him curiously when he noticed where they were heading and Sherlock did a little backflip in his head, it was nice to feel the mans eyes on him again, he would've glanced back but he was too busy rolling down the window to meet the soldier approaching.

"Pass Please." He asked and Sherlock reached into his coat and pulled out a card to hand to the man.

"Thank you." He nodded and trotted back over to the kiosk he was stationed at to verify the ID, John gave him a look and Sherlock smiled inside.

"You've got ID for Baskerville? How." John whispered breaking the silence at last, Sherlock breathed a sigh of relief, it seemed that John was doing that thing where he pretended to forget Sherlock had done something wrong.

"It's not specific to this place. It's my brothers. Access all areas. I um-" Sherlock cleared his throat. "Acquired it ages ago, just incase." John shook his head clearly and correctly translating as '_I stole it when he wasn't looking_'.

"Brilliant!" John scoffed and Sherlock looked over at him, okay so maybe he was wrong, John, was in fact, still upset and now looking a little distressed.

"What's the matter?" Sherlock asks, looking at John concerned.

"We'll get caught!" John whisper shouted.

"No we won't! Well not just yet." Sherlock assured and John shook his head again and looked back out the window.

"Caught in five minutes. '_Oh, hi, we just thought we'd come and have a wander 'round your top secret weapons base_.' '_Really? Great! Come in, kettles just boiled_.', that's if we don't get shot." John mocked and grumbled, Sherlock was about to reply when the guard came back over to return the ID card.

"Thank you, sir."

"Thank you." Sherlock replied and smiled smugly at John as he eased the car through the gates.

"Straight through, sir." The soldier called in parting and John nearly crumpled in half with relief.

"Mycroft's name _literally _opens doors." He mumbled, Sherlock smirked.

"I told you, he practically _is _the british government, I reckon we've got about twenty minutes before they realize somethings wrong " John just flipped him the 'V' and tilted his head back.

Sherlock did as he was instructed and drove straight through to the main building and then he and John jumped out to proceed into it, John still grumbling about getting shot. Hm. Paranoia, however justified in this case, was another sign of heat, perhaps John was closer to heat than either of them thought, Sherlock hoped not, it wouldn't do for John to start lubricating in the middle of Baskerville, every unbonded Alpha within a mile radius would tackle him. Bad train of thought, Sherlock barely managed to stifle the growl threatening to escape his lips, he discreetly dropped his head to to sniff at his shirt again to push away the possessive thoughts. God, this was getting ridiculous now.

Just as they were getting closer to the door and 4x4 pulled up and a soldier jumped out and addressed Sherlock.

"What is it? Are we in trouble?" He asked and Sherlock caught the waft of another Omega.

"Are we in trouble '_sir_'" Sherlock growled firmly and the man nodded apologetically.

"Yes, sir, sorry sir."

"You were expecting us?" Sherlock asked suspiciously and the Omega flicked his gaze between him and John.

"Your ID Showed up straight away, Mr. Holmes. Corporal Lyons, security. _Is _there something wrong sir?" Lyons asked and Sherlock maintained his domination aura.

"Well, I hope not, Corporal, I hope not." He drawled.

"It's just, we don't get inspected here, sir, it just doesn't happen." and Sherlock didn't know what to say to that, lucky for him, John did.

"Ever heard of a spot check?" The doctor asked pulling out his wallet and flashing his army ID, shocking both the corporal and Sherlock when he suddenly went from, seemingly harmless Omega to dominating soldier Omega.

"Captain John Watson. Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers." The corporals eyes changed to one of suspicion to one of awe, not many army Omega's make it to such a high rank as Captain so to meet one in person clearly blew this young corporal away and he saluted John without hesitation. John saluted back stiffly.

"Sir, Major Barrymore won't be pleased, sir. He'll want to see you both." Lyons said, now addressing John and completely ignoring Sherlock, which was just as well seeing as how he was having a hard time, no pun intended, controlling his arousal at John's little display and it just continued, Sherlock swallowed hard and his eyes shuddered in an effort to keep open, what was wrong with him? Why did he keep reacting to John?

"I'm afraid we won't have time for that. We'll need the full tour right away. Carry on." John ordered and _Oh_! Wasn't that just adorable! Sherlock dug his thumb nail against his thigh to try and regain some equilibrium, too afraid he's be noticed if ducked his head down and sniff for John's scent on his shirt.

"That's an _order _corporal." John growled firmly, almost Alpha like and Sherlock's control nearly crumbled to nothing, walking was definitely going to be a problem. Thank god for all the chemicals here and the slightly weaker sense of smell the Omega body possessed.

"Nice touch." Sherlock complimented when they were inside Baskerville and he had calmed down somewhat, he saw John blush out the corner of his eye.

"Haven't pulled rank in ages." John said to cover up his embarrassment.

"Enjoy it?" Sherlock teased and John turned to him with a smirk and a wink.

"_Oh_, _yeah_." John managed to march a little further in front of Sherlock who was only just managing to keep his tongue in his mouth.

_Army Omega. Delicious._

_**/**_

The tour though Baskerville was pretty much uneventful and boring really, well at least Sherlock solved the case of Bluebell the missing rabbit and he got to wind up Mycroft which was always a definite plus. Sherlock did almost lose his cool though when Major Barrymore had started throwing his weight around, he supposed it was a good thing Dr. Frankland had appeared when he did, now if only he could get rid of the annoying old man.

"Here's my, er, cell number. If I could help, with Henry, give me a call." He smiled at Sherlock and handed him a card. Sherlock spent the next two minutes asking questions that Frankland just danced around, annoying Sherlock who just gave up and held up the card.

"I'll be in touch."

"Any time." The man replied and left, John and Sherlock did them same only heading back towards the 4x4.

"So?" John asked.

"_So_?" Sherlock replied raising an eyebrow and John rolled his eyes.

"What was all that about the rabbit?" Sherlock just smirked and pulled up his coat collar and John scoffed, drawing his attention.

"Oh _please_! Can we not do this, this time?" Sherlock looked confused.

"Do what?"

"You being all mysterious with your cheekbones and turning your coat collar up so you look cool." John grumbled as he jumped into the car, Sherlock's mouth moved with no sound for a moment completely speechless.

"I don't do that." He said eventually as he opened the drivers side door and just before John shut his he called out.

"Yeah you do!" Sherlock's brows furrowed when he sat down and he and John looked at each other for a moment before bursting into peals of laughter, something neither man thought they'd ever do again after what had happened that day. When the laughter ended Sherlock looked over to John who had his head tilted back, breathing heavily, face flushed and face relaxed. He looked beautiful. The soft smile that had rested on Sherlock's face as he watched the doctor slowly fell and he reached over to rest his hand on John's leg.

"_John_." John rolled his head towards Sherlock in question.

"What?"

"About earlier, I-" John's had moved quickly through the air and he pressed two fingers against Sherlock's plump lips.

"_Don't_. It happened, there's no changing that and it helped me realize some thing's that I hadn't considered before so please, just don't say anything." Sherlock nodded and he licked his lips when John's hand fell, he could taste him, it was nice.

"What thing's?" Sherlock asked huskily and John looked like he was just going to ignore Sherlock and go back to the quiet awkwardness they seemed to have mastered all day.

"Look... I don't... After our little _thing _this afternoon I realized that the only Alpha I'd ever want to bond myself too was _you_, the... the _thing _just made me admit to something I've been denying since I met you. Now I don't expect your reciprocation so don't worry. You don't want any kind of bond anyway." The last part came out unintentionally sounding like a question and John took Sherlock's shocked silence as an answer and smiled sadly.

"Thought so." he sighed and Sherlock swallowed, moisture finally returning to his mouth from the shock, of course he didn't want a bond... or maybe. No. He _didn't_!

"John-" He began without thinking but John just grinned at him.

"So where're we off to next?" He chirped and Sherlock didn't know if he was happy or aggravated at John's interruption, then again who knew what might have come out of his mouth.

"Henry's." Sherlock replied gloomily.

"Right! Off we go then." John sniffed and turned to look out the window, Sherlock watched him for a moment and then started the car. Could this situation get any more complicated.

Of course it could, he was Sherlock Holmes after all.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Fear & Pain**

Sherlock wasn't sure if the drive to Henry's was strained or not, the silence between them wasn't exactly awkward, especially with John chipping in every once and awhile to break it but there was... _something_,lying beneath the quiet, it was starting to piss Sherlock off. Since they'd left Baskerville and John's little confession behind, the Omega had been acting completely normal and how he could do that after dropping a bombshell like that? Sherlock had no idea, _he _couldn't do that, _why _couldn't he do that? He wanted to, God knows he did but he just _couldn't_.

He couldn't forget what John smelled like, tasted like, how he felt cocooned beneath Sherlock's larger body. He couldn't forget that John prefered his scent to any other Alphas, Couldn't forget that John hadn't washed away Sherlock's scent marking at his nape and he just couldn't forget the way his heart had missed a beat when John told him, that the only Alpha John wanted to bind himself to was him. He wanted to delete it all but try as he might, it was impossible.

The confusion was overwhelming, his brain was shouting two arguing points at him and he didn't know which one to listen to. On the one hand Sherlock had never been interested in bonding or heat, hell he'd never had any interest in _Betas _let alone Omegas, heat or otherwise. Although he did go through a faze at Uni where he was fascinated by the chemicals the brain released during heats by both participants but his interest only went as far as what he'd read in books, he'd never actually experienced it in reality. Why would he need to?

On the other hand, John could be _his_.

No more annoying Beta and Alpha females. No more '_Sorry Sherlock, I've got a date tonight_.'and no more fear that John might finally get fed up and leave him. Sherlock's eyes widened a fraction, he wasn't actually considering- _No _of course he wasn't that'd be ridiculous! _That _was it, Sherlock couldn't take much more of this, anymore Alpha/Omega bonding crap and he'd snap! If he couldn't forget about that afternoon then he'd do the next best thing, ignore it, it was the only logical thing to do and as long as John contained himself there should be no problem.

Sherlock's eyes refocused and he realized he was pulling up in front of Henry's house, he must have set himself on auto pilot whilst he analyzed his situation, he did tend to drift when he was preoccupied. The car had barely stopped before John was jumping out and marching off towards the conservatory entrance, bad move, Sherlock's Alpha instincts had been running wild and any kind of assertive move John made would be considered a challenge by thsi point. For example Sherlock didn't like being lead, it was the Alpha who was always in front so he put his long legs to good use and stomped up in front of John, glancing down at John over his Shoulder reproachingly.

John sensing that Sherlock felt undermined, innocently tilted his head to the side and presented his neck to the man in submission and that was the straw that broke the Alpha's back, Sherlock stopped dead and John bumped into his back.

"Wha-" He didn't dare let John finish, Sherlock spun quickly around and pinned John to the doorframe they had just passed, the Alpha hormones pouring off of Sherlock were intoxicating and not in a good way. John's instinct to calm his Alpha rose and John lifted his head up to nuzzle under Sherlock's chin.

"Stop it!" He pressed John harder against the wood, snarling in John's face and sinking his fingers into John's shoulder. The smaller man whimpered in pain and pressed his chin to his chest, breaking any eye contact and hiding his neck to avoid further angering the furious Alpha. Sherlock didn't seem to care though, the display only made him more angry and he pulled John forward to slam him back against the jam.

Sherlock's mind was completely ruled by domineering Alpha now and there was nothing that could make him stop... or that's what he thought anyway but then he wasn't expecting the little cry John gave when his left shoulder came into contact with the wooden frame and the now palpable stink of fear in the air. The loud growl that had been tearing through the air from Sherlock stopped and his eyes that had dilated to black cleared, he jumped back fiercely and John gave a sigh of relief.

"_John_, I'm sorry, are you alright?" God damn these Alpha urges, he never wanted to hurt John, never. Sherlock moved to take a step forward but John flinched so he stayed where he was listening to John pant and whimper against the pain he must be feeling. Sherlock wanted nothing more than to reach over and pull John close, stroke his hair, make everything alright again and this time it had nothing to do with Alpha instincts, it was just Sherlock but he didn't dare move less he frighten John off completely.

John calmed down after a few minutes but he didn't raise his eyes up to Sherlock's, instead he just cleared his throat, his walls coming down to protect himself.

"Shall we go and see Henry, then?" John asked hoarsely, back to being '_Default John._' but unwilling to move first lest he challenge Sherlock again. Sensing his friend didn't want to talk about this and feeling the same way himself, Sherlock jut nodded and strode towards the door to ring the doorbell. He heard John shuffle up next to but didn't look over, he didn't know if he could look at him right now without choking on his Shame. They only had to wait a few moments before the door swung open to reveal Henry who smiled at them in welcome, noticing the tension in the air though he let his smile drop and glance between John and Sherlock curiously.

"Aren't you going to invite us in?" Sherlock asked warningly when he sensed a question brewing and Henry swallowed and nodded.

"Yes, yes, of course, sorry. Please, come in." He stood aside and Sherlock walked in followed by a blank faced John. John lagged a bit when he noticed the size an style of the house and he glanced at Henry curiously.

"This is, uh... are you, um... rich?" John stuttered and Henry glanced around dispassionately at his lodgings.

"Yeah." He sighed as if put upon, John couldn't help looking over at Sherlock and raising an eyebrow, was this man serious, he'd kill for a place like this, Sherlock looked away quickly, unable to hold John's gaze, even for appearances sake.

"Right." John finally said, sadness and hurt creeping into his tone and followed Henry and Sherlock into the kitchen.

_**/**_

Henry had been every bit the polite host and offered them both a cup of tea, leaving out the milk and sugar for John and Sherlock to use at their leisure, he told them about his therapy session with Dr. Mortimer and John noted down the two words 'Liberty' and 'in' that Henry said had appeared when he was remembering that afternoon. Electing to be professional John turned to Sherlock when Henry was putting the milk back.

"Mean anything to you?" He asked gesturing to the words written in his notepad, Sherlock looked as if he wanted to say something else but held his tongue, sticking to the case.

"'_Liberty in Death_' isn't that the expression? The only true freedom." He answered softly, John nodded and a silence fell over them again, John closed his eyes for a moment and when they opened he moved as if to speak but Henry had returned by then.

"What now, then?" The posh man asked nervously and John honestly didn't know, with all that had been going on today he hadn't really been paying attention to the case, he supposed he should feel bad about that but... well. He did remember Sherlock saying something about a plan when they were talking to Fletcher though so he'd go with that.

"Sherlock's got a plan?" He asked and cringed when it came out more of a question. He looked over to Sherlock who was lowering his tea mug and smiling strangely.

"Yes." He chirped and Henry nodded eagerly.

"We'll take you back out onto the moor.." Sherlock began.

"Okay."

"... and see if anything attacks you." He finished and John's looked at him like he was crazy, which if he was honest probably wouldn't be far off the mark with the way Sherlock had been acting today, the bruises he could feel on his shoulders gave a throb at the thought.

"_What_?!" He asked incredulously instead of clearing his throat nervously.

"That should bring things to a head." Sherlock reasoned and Henry's face went white.

"At night? You want me to go out there at night?" he asked robotically and Sherlock hummed in affirmation taking another sip of tea.

"That's your plan?! _brilliant_!" John snorted.

"Got any better ideas?" Sherlock asked John and the truth was no. He didn't .

"That's not a plan." He replied weakly, Sherlock sighed.

"Listen, if there is a monster out there, John, there's only one thing to do: Find out where it lives." The detective drawled and smiled at Henry. John gave a mirthless laugh and then winced when the force of it hurt his shoulders, Henry glanced at him concerned.

"Are you quite alright, John?" He asked and John smiled at him.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine, I just... can I use your bathroom?" Henry blinked at him and nodded.

"There's one just down the hall." John thanked him and dismounted the stool he was sitting on to shuffle off, unaware of the eyes following his every move. Once he was secured in the bathroom, John slipped of his jacket and jumper, then unbuttoned the red shirt beneath to slip that off too so he could get a look at the marks on his shoulders in the mirror behind the sink. They had already turned a painful looking purple and the bullet wound scar on his left shoulder was lit up a bright red.

John hissed at the image he made and started looking around for some kind of soothing cream or balm Henry might have lying around, he was too busy looking through the cupboards under the sink that he didn't hear the bathroom door open and close softly. The only warning he got that someone was in the room with him was the hot puff of breath of the back of his neck before two long arms surrounded him and pulled him back against a strong, lean chest.

"I'm sorry, I'm so _very _sorry, John." Sherlock whispered into his hair, John swallowed and tried to pull away but Sherlock's arms just tightened across his waist, it seemed Sherlock was back into Alpha mode again, he wasn't going to win this one with strength, he'd need to use his brain.

"Sherlock, let me go, please. My shoulders hurt and I need to treat them." John said lowly and shifted his head back against Sherlock's shoulder so he could nuzzle at the big Alpha's neck hesitantly, after all he didn't want another repeat of what happened earlier. Sherlock purred appreciatively though and in turn, shifted so he could nuzzle at John's hair. John let the mutual nuzzling continue, he knew Sherlock needed to do this even if the idiot didn't know _why _and he was enjoying it. In fact John was enjoying the affecttion so much that he lost track of time and it wasn't until the last rays of sunlight disappeared that he realised they must've been in there together for at least a half hour.

Luckily Sherlock also noticed the lack of daylight and pulled back surprisingly gently but that could mean anything right now, John kept his eyes locked on the silhouette of the detective in the mirror, waiting for whatever explosion Sherlock would have this time but to John's shocked delight the detective only dropped his head down to place a kiss on John's left shoulder and slipped a tube of ointment into his hand before disappearing back out the door.

Maybe, there was some hope after all.

_**/**_

Well _that _had been a disaster.

John gently closed the front door to Henry's house, not wanting to disturb the hyperactive man who was now sleeping off a strong dose of sleeping pills John had given him. A hound indeed, _John _hadn't seen anything, well he'd see the flashing morse code but that was it, then again he did _hear _something but still the idea of some kind of crazy, monster, dog roaming the moors of some arsey little town in the middle of nowhere seemed highly unlikely.

Plus Sherlock had said he hadn't seen anything either and he was with Henry so John could only assume that the poor man was just so traumatised from the ordeal he had suffered as a child, that he was seeing things.

Poor bastard.

John smiled when he caught sight of 'The Cross Keys', he wanted to find out of Sherlock had deduced anything yet from their little outing, usually the man would've started rattling off ideas as soon as he had seen what he had to see but the Alpha had been in a bit of an odd mood when John caught up to him and Henry and he just took off in the direction of the pub. John just assumed he was thinking hard and needed some peace.

When John entered the pub he looked around curiously for Sherlock but saw no sign of the man in the main area, Gary spotted him looking around and pointed over to the little dining room with the fire place in it, John nodded to the man and made his way through, Sherlock was sitting at one of the big chairs in front of the fire with a brandy at his side, John frowned, that was odd, Sherlock never drank, still, John made his way over to join the man.

"Well, he's in a pretty bad way. He's manic, totally convinced there's some mutant, super dog roaming the moors..." John informed as he sat down and Sherlock tensed, looking at John stiffly from the corner of his eye.

"And there isn't, though, is there? 'Cause if people knew how to make a mutant, super dog, we'd know..." Sherlock started to breathe heavily, rocking back and forth slightly and clasping and unclasping his hands.

"They'd be for sale. I mean, that's how it works." John finished but then realised he hadn't told Sherlock about the morse code.

"Oh! Listen, on the moor I saw someone signalling. Er. Morse, I guess it's morse." Sherlock started blinking rapidly as if to clear something from his eyes.

"U.M.Q.R.A. Does that mean... anything..." That was when John noticed something wasn't right, Sherlock hadn't said a word and he was all twitchy and breathing deep, John just kept going though in an effort to bring Sherlock out of whatever crazy he'd sank into now.

"So, okay, what have we got? We know there's footprints, 'cause Henry found them; so did the tour guide bloke. We all heard something." John elected to leave out Fletcher's name so as not to agrivate the man but frowned when Sherlock let out a shaky breath.

"Maybe we should just look for whoever's got a big dog." John huffed in the end and that's when Sherlock finally spoke.

"Henry's right." John looked at him.

"What?"

"I saw it too." Sherlock said trembling, okay now he was frightening John, Sherlock Holmes never trembled.

"What?" John asked again

"I saw it too, John." Sherlock mumbled again.

"Just ... just a minute. You saw what?" John questioned sitting forward and finally taking in Sherlock's appearance. The man was pale, shaking and covered in sweat, a thick cover of it pooling in the dip between his collarbones.

"A hound, out there in the Hollow. A gigantic _hound_." Sherlock gritted out, finally locking eyes with John. The Omega couldn't believe what he was hearing, Sherlock had to be joking right? He tried to calm Sherlock down, tried to rationalize the situation but he obviously didn't word it properly as Sherlock took it as a criticism and lashed out at John furiously insisting there was nothing wrong with him, drawing the attention of all the diners around them and going on to prove himself by mocking John as he deduced a pair of diners sitting behind them, to the right.

"...I use my senses, John, unlike _some _people, so you see, I _am _fine, in fact I've never been better, so just _Leave_. _Me_. _Alone_." Sherlock as he finished his rant, John swallowed and stared at Sherlock then looked away and cleared his throat.

"Yeah. Okay. Okay." John mumbled to calm his distress at Sherlock's venom, sitting back in his chair and trying to relax. He had to relax, less the cramping he could feel in his lower abdomen get worse.

"And why would you listen to me? I'm just your friend." John choked out sarcastically.

" I don't have _friends_." Sherlock said viciously, sounding absolutely disgusted by the idea and that cut deeper than any other cruel act Sherlock had inflicted upon him that day. No matter if Sherlock didn't want to share John's heat and bond with him, no matter if Sherlock's instincts ran hot and cold, leading John on and pushing him away again and no matter that's Sherlocks Alpha pride had pushed the man to harm John physically, _none _of that was unforgivable, bruises faded whether the were visible or not and John was always assured that even if their relationship didn't progress into something deeper, he'd always have this brilliant, gorgeous mans friendship.

It seemed that he never even had that. He had been wrong.

"Naah. Wonder why?" slipped out softly as John stood up and rushed away, shoving past someone in his haste to get out of this place, so much for the hope that little kiss on John's shoulder had given him, it was obviously just one of Sherlock's Alpha moodswings. John fell to his knees in agony once he'd made it outside, the cramping in his belly that had started earlier only getting worse due to the emotional distress he was in, he was wrong, his heat was due in the next twenty-four hours, for sure and if he didn't find some way of dealing with it then who knows what could happen. John doubled over when his stomach gave a particularly violent twist, he rocked back and forth on his knees for a time until the pains past and took deep breaths and straightened up.

After thinking really hard, John knew what he had to do, tomorrow he'd go over to Henry's and apologise to the man, tell him that Sherlock was on his own and then head up to London, back to 221B where he could suffer in peace, by the time Sherlock was back in London, John's heat would be over. As John was sitting on his knees, trying to calculate when he'd get a train back home and flashing drew his attention at the corner of his eye, John looked up curiously, someone was signalling again! Maybe John could go and find out what the UMQRA business was all about before he left, maybe he could give Henry something of use before bowing out gracefully.

Mind made up, John stood up slowly and started making his way over to the flashing light in the distance, this time without Sherlock striding by his side.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Conquering His Fears **

Sherlock kept his gaze locked on the fire, flickering away before him when John jumped up and ran off, why should he have to look at the imbecile anyway? It's not like he knew what he was talking about. Sherlock _had _see a hound, there was no mistaking it, he saw it with his own two eyes and his eyes had never and would never deceive him. John was the one with something wrong with him, John was the one making accusations and making out that there was something wrong with Sherlock and John... was only trying to help.

"Shit!" Sherlock choked out and jumped up to go after his friend, yes, that's right, John _was _his friend and he'd just basically told him to his face that it was all a lie, that'd he never _had _considered John to be a friend, but he _was_, in fact he was Sherlock's _best friend _and he'd be lost without him. Sherlock took the stairs up to their room two at a time, panicking that John might've grabbed his things, might just leave Sherlock all alone but when he burst through the door calling out John's name, only the silence greeted him.

Reassuringly, John's bag was still there sitting next to Sherlock's at the bottom of the big bed and why the hell was there only _one _bed?! Sherlock and John had _specifically _agreed on two. Sherlock growled at himself, no, this was not a priority, finding John was and Sherlock had no idea where to look but he figured going back downstairs might be a good start, it was just a shame that his feet couldn't move.

The panic Sherlock had been feeling since the Hollow only seemed to increase and he sank down to the floor at the bottom of the bed beside his and John's bags and started breathing heavily, manic thoughts running through his mind.

What if John had gone to the Hollow to prove that the Hound didn't exist?

What if he was getting torn apart right this moment by large fangs?

What if he'd just decided to abandon his possessions and return to London anyway? or worst of all; What if John had gone into heat and was being mounted by an Alpha? An Alpha who _wasn't _Sherlock? An Alpha who would sink his teeth into John's soft neck and bond with him? An Alpha who would take John away from him... _forever_.

NO! Sherlock's eyes went wild and feral at the thought, there was no way John would let himself be bonded to another Alpha, he had told Sherlock that not five hours ago but then... John might not have a choice if the Alpha was dominant enough. The growl vibrating through the room at the thought was utterly terrifying, and the Beta couple in the room next door fled from the sound of it, Sherlock heard them but he didn't care, all he cared about was John and John was missing because Sherlock had made one _stupid _comment and-

"No. That's not right, is it?" Sherlock asked aloud his growl disappearing, he had been rotten to John all day, had been _hurting _him all day, even before they'd left London he had been rude and callous and _cold_. How could he have been such an idiot, John was... John was _everything _to Sherlock, John was his whole world, why had the never crossed his mind before? Oh! It has though, hasn't it? When he had stripped a horrible green parker decorated with C4 from John's body calling '_Are you alright_?' to the Omega who was trembling before his very eyes. Just like that afternoon at Henry's when he had pinned John against that door frame.

That was another horrible mistake Sherlock had made, he remembered stepping into the bathroom behind John and catching sight of the damage he had caused in his anger and _why _was he angry? Because he was confused, he was being pulled back and forth by his own mind and because he couldn't decided what he wanted, John had paid the price, paid the price for only being who he was. Although, when he had wrapped his arms around John's body and pulled him against his own, he hadn't been confused, it was the first and only time in his life he had willingly given into his instinct to protect any Omega in distress and why? Because John was _his _Omega.

When John had jumped up to go to the bathroom in Henry's, Sherlock's eyes had followed his every step his attention only being drawn away by a comment Henry had made when John had closed the door to check his wounds.

'_He's such a charming man. The Alpha who claims him will be very lucky_.'

Sherlock realized in that moment that yes, the Alpha who got John would be lucky and the thought that the Alpha might not be him... _killed _him. That was the moment he gave in and let his mind pull him in one direction, Sherlock shoved away all his fears, all his anxieties, all his doubts about heats and bonding and decided that yes, just like John said Sherlock was the only one for him, John was the only one for Sherlock and he wanted, actually _wanted_, to share John's heat and make them one. Sherlock had risen from his seat, tea forgotten and ignoring the strange look Henry had given him as he retrieved an ointment from the first aid kit below Henry's sink and then proceed to the bathroom when his Omega was.

Sherlock had thoroughly enjoyed the little nuzzling match he and John had shared, he had lost himself in John's lovely sweet, woodsy scent that was still laced with his own spicy, musky one and the softness of his greying blonde hair against his face, he never wanted to pull back from that moment but the sun had set and they had work to do. In parting, just to make sure that John knew his affection was genuine he had laid a soft kiss on John's left shoulder, the one he had so needlessly slammed into the wooden frame outside and slipped the ointment into his hand before leaving.

Then they went to the Hollow and everything had fallen apart, it was all that stupid bloody Hounds fault! None of that mattered at the moment though as Sherlock finally managed to get his arse in gear and jog back down to the bar. Sherlock made a quick sweep of the pub on the off chance that John had returned but was disappointed when he saw no sign of his gorgeous little Omega, Billy saw him looking around and called him over.

"Oi! Your fella ran out of here about an hour ago, he looked awfully upset, I wouldn't worry though, he looked as if he was heading up to the '_park_' when I last saw 'im, must've gotten curious." Billy told him and although Sherlock didn't understand why the man had put emphasis on '_park_' he breathed a sigh of relief, if John was only going to a park then he would be safe, thank God.

Sherlock was about to ask directions to this park when he caught sight of Henry's therapist, sitting up at the bar with a large glass of white wine in her hand, clearly this would be a golden opportunity to get some information of Henry's situation. The only thing was, he was rubbish at interviewing people, it was John who was the master charmer, not him, somehow he didn't think that John would be up to doing him a favour though, still he had to try and when John was finished talking to her, he and John could talk and he could tell John about _everything_. Mind made up, Sherlock pulled out his phone.

**Henry's therapist currently in Cross Keys pub - S**

**SO?**

**Interview her?**

**WHY SHOULD I?**

Sherlock pouted at the text and glanced back up to Dr. Mortimer, She was a Beta, average looking but definitely John's type, Sherlock didn't like it but he sent a picture of her to John nonetheless, after all, when John turned up to schmooze her, Sherlock would be hiding in a corner out of sight, making sure she kept her dirty Beta hands to herself.

_**/**_

This was intolerable, Sherlock was just one more coy smile away from stomping over there and punching that woman in the face and he didn't give a rats arse _who _saw or what _anybody _would think. The annoying woman was completely charmed with his lovely little John, and really who could blame her, John was, as ever, the charming, sweet, funny man he was, not to mention his smile could light up a room and he smelled _wonderful_. Even more so with Sherlock's scent still mixing with his own uniqueness, of course the Beta woman wouldn't be able to smell it on John because of her useless Beta senses but still, it made him happy to know that John hadn't washed it off yet.

Sherlock could have slapped himself, he was one step away from letting out a girly sigh, clasping his hands to the side of his face and batting his eyelashes, just because he had finally admitted to himself that he wanted John and was prepared to do something about it did not mean he was going to turn into a sentimental fool or worse; _Molly_.

Perhaps watching John so closely was not such a good idea, although he did want to keep an eye on the situation he was also aware of the fact he had some serious thinking to do, once he had calmed down somewhat, Sherlock had come to the conclusion that John was right, there was no such thing a monster mutant Hounds, however he did see it so there must be _something_...

Sherlock, noting that the attraction between John and _Louise _was one-sided on her part, let himself drift off to his mind palace for a bit so he could go over everything thoroughly. He thought about Henry's words, Fletcher's words, Baskerville, Dr. Stapleton, his trip to the Hollow and every single thing that he and John had down since arriving to Grimpen. Sherlock didn't know how long he wandered the grand halls of his mind palace before he came to his final conclusion but when he startled back to life the pub was practically empty, save for a few old men and one or two couples, perhaps he should've skipped the trip to the John Watson wing.

Speaking of John, the doctor and his interviewee were gone and it looked like they had been gone for some time, Sherlock frowned and glanced at his watch, it was 12:34am, the last time he had looked it had been 9:15pm, hm. He wondered if John had managed to get any interesting data from his time speaking with the therapist, suddenly a horrible thought entered his mind. What if when he wasn't looking, John and Louise had hit it off properly? What if they had decided to have an '_early night_'? In John and Sherlock's room?

If you asked Sherlock how he had gotten up those stairs so fast, he honestly wouldn't be able to answer you, all that he knew was, he was sitting downstairs contemplating this nightmare and the next his ear was pressed to his own room door, listening for sounds of anything untoward going on. When he didn't hear anything, Sherlock gently eased the door open, stuck his head around it and breathed a great sigh of relief. John was alone, sound asleep on the left side of the bed facing the right, Sherlock slid his whole body into the room and closed the door just as gently as he'd opened it. He then toed of his shoes and tossed his coat and suit jacket over a chair by the bathroom door. It wouldn't do to climb into bed like he would do a runner if John twitched.

Sherlock padded over softly and slowly climbed in the bed, easing his body under the sheets and sighing at the warmth radiating off of John's body. Hm. _John_. The adorable Omega look so peaceful in his sleep, his body rising and falling slowly, he hair sticking up all over the shop and the little, barely there snore was just hilarious. Sherlock couldn't hold in the snort that escaped him and unintentionally disturbed John who stopped snoring and started shuffling and wriggling closer to Sherlock. The cunning detective saw an opportunity here and rolled over to lay on his back, arm raised in the air, John took the bait and ended up with his head pillowed on Sherlock's lean chest and his arm tossed across the man abdomen, it was amazing. Sherlock wrapped his own arms around John, one over his waist and the other cradling his head, fingers shifting through Johns hair in a soothing motion to coax him back into a deeper sleep, it worked like a charm.

_**/**_

Sherlock had let himself doze lightly, fingers never stopping there stroking motion through John's hair all night and only reopened his eyes when the sun had begun to rise. He thought about it long and hard for about a half hour before he decided to slip out of bed, get changed and leave, he didn't want to but he knew John too well. If John woke up cradled in his arms after last nights fight he would punch Sherlock's lights out, on the verge of heat or not, and _really_, _truly _leave. It was better if Sherlock let John wake up properly and gather his thoughts before speaking to him about anything, besides Sherlock had to go to Henry's and pick up some of his drugged sugar, that was the only possible solution he had managed to come up with the night before. Narcotics.

Sherlock went for a drive across the moors to think some more about his theory and the more he thought, the more convinced he became that it was the sugar, he and John had done, ate and drank all the same things since they'd arrived, all expect for the sugar because John was a strange man and prefered milk in his tea to sugar. _Disgusting_!

He spent most of his morning driving but stopped back at that first rock he and John had been around at the start of their trip, he mimicked his pose atop it again and stared into Baskerville, he'd have to think up a way of getting back in there so he could test his theory about the bloody sugar, perhaps, just this once mind, he could lower himself to call..._Urgh_! _Mycroft _for..._Help_. The thought of it turned Sherlock's stomach but one must do what one must do... later though, much, much, _much _later. Sherlock took one last glance at Baskerville and then made his way down the rock and back to the car, he had to get over to Henry's and actually sneak off with some of the mans sugar, Sherlock hoped that wasn't as strange as it sounded but still as easy as it sounded.

As it turned out, it proved to be easier than he expected since Henry had somewhat of a sleeping ailment the night before, which was odd because Sherlock was sure that John had told him he'd given Henry something to help him sleep. Sherlock did notice that Henry seemed a little more antsy today though, still, it was no concern of his how the moron was feeling, he'd got what he wanted and made his way out and back towards the pub. He had bigger things to worry about than Henry Knight's mood swings.

Speaking of those things, Sherlock was startled when he noticed John sitting in the local cemetery all by himself, it was only 8:15am, John should still be asleep right now or at least having breakfast. Sherlock stared at John for a bit and suddenly all the words he had planned to say to the man left him in a rush, all of it suddenly became unworthy and Sherlock had no idea what to say but he knew he couldn't just leave, he had to do something and he had to do it now or he may lose any chance of ever making John his. Sherlock swallowed down the dryness in his throat, opening the squeaky gate and proceeding up the path to where John was sat flipping through his notebook.

John hearing footsteps, looked up and his face fell when he saw who it was, he didn't have time to deal with another one of Sherlock's mood swings right now, he had to catch a train due in an hour and he still had to get his things and call a taxi, he stood up from the monument he was sitting on just as Sherlock cleared his throat to address him.

"Did you, er, get anywhere with that Morse code?" Sherlock asked and wasn't that the greatest opening line ever. John huffed and started to march off, was this man actually serious?

"No." John answered shortly.

"U.M.Q.R.A. Wasn't it?" Well Sherlock had started with it so he may as well go with it, Sherlock started to think of what it might be and started trying out different sounds to it but John shut him down telling him it was nothing, unable to think of any handy tricks, Sherlock went for an attempt at humor.

"How about Louise Mortimer? Did you get anywhere with her?"

"No." John said bitterly.

"Too bad. Did you get any information?" John smiled a little and glanced over his shoulder but kept walking.

"You being funny now?" He teased and Sherlock decided to be honest.

"Thought it might break the ice a bit."

"Funny doesn't suit you. I'd stick to ice." John replied and Sherlock panicked inside, John wasn't responding to him at all.

"_John_." He called softly, pain evident in his voice, John ignored it, however hard it was to do and kept walking.

"It's fine." No it wasn't.

"No, wait. What happened last night ... Something happened to me; something I've not really experienced before …" John scoffed, if last night was all Sherlock was going to explain himself for then John didn't want to know.

"Yes, you said: fear. Sherlock Holmes got scared. You said." Sherlock couldn't take the mocking tone John used thought he suspected he deserved it, he grabbed John's arm gently and pulled him around to face him, tried to explain the feeling of terror when you think your own senses are betraying you but John just brushed him off and started walking off again. That's was when words found their way back to Sherlock's brain, when in that moment he thought John was walking away from him for good.

"Listen, what I said before, John. I meant it." John stopped and turned to face Sherlock curiously.

"I don't have friends. I've just got _one _and over the past twenty-four hours I've treated that one very poorly even though he's done nothing to deserve it, I've attacked him, ignored him and worst of all made him believe that I don't care for him, but I do, John, more than anything and I would _give _anything for him to to give me the chance to prove to him just how much I care for him by deepening our friendship to something more solid. _Please_,John." Sherlock finished, blushing and on the edge of running away, the look on John's face is what kept him grounded, the look of awe and, dare he think it, _love_.

John for his part was blown away, there was no way Sherlock was saying what he thought Sherlock was saying, all the same though, he slowly made his way back over to Sherlock and tilted his head to the side, contemplating for a brief second.

"I think... I think if you said, specifically, what you wanted, this '_one friend_' of yours may just give you what you're asking for." John stuttered out nervously, Sherlock huffed in affection at John's transparency and then lowered his head down so his lips were a breath away from John's.

"John Watson, Would you do me the honour of letting me share your heat and bond with you, love?" The endearment came as a bit of shock to them both but Sherlock got his answer when John closed the gap between him, wrapping his arms around the Alpha's neck and kissing him deeply and as he slid his own arms around John's waist to pulling him on his tiptoes to press as close as possible, Sherlock wondered why he had ever protested something that felt this good in first place.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: A Bit of Fun**

John and Sherlock remained locked together in the graveyard for a long time, neither one of the wanting to pull back from the kiss and let the moment pass; it was such a shame that breathing was a necessity. John was the first one to pull back a bit but Sherlock followed his lips, dropping one last chaste kiss on them and then resting his forehead against the doctors. John tilted his face up to nuzzle his nose against Sherlock's who smiled lightly and nosed John back.

"This better not be another one of your crazy mood swings, Sherlock." John huffed, Sherlock winced and felt an immense amount of guilt fill up his chest, he hadn't meant to muck John about, he just had a hard time dealing with his emotions and instincts, and he _was_ a sociopath after all.

"I promise you, John, this is no mood swing. I'm sorry about... _everything_." If there was one thing Sherlock had learned it was that apologizing was painful, even if it was necessary, however he'd always make the effort for John. They stood there together for another moment before pulling back completely to get back to business, walking closer together than normal as they left the cemetery.

John had the urge to slip his hand into Sherlock's or wrap an arm around his Alpha's waist but refrained, it was one thing for Sherlock to want to bond them together behind closed doors in the throes of a powerful heat and share a kiss in the passion of the moment when they were alone, it was another matter entirely for Sherlock to be affectionate in front of other people. Poor John nearly jumped out of his skin when Sherlock stopped dead, eyes going wide in realization and then he turned to John and planted a great, soppy kiss on lips.

"John! You are amazing! You are fantastic!" Sherlock called when he pulled back and started walking a bit faster, shoving a hand into his coat to pull out his notebook. John swiped a hand over his lips to remove the slobbers Sherlock had left.

"Yeah. What?" He asked as he trailed behind but Sherlock couldn't give him a straight answer as usual.

"You've never been the most luminous of people, but as a conductor of light you are unbeatable. Some people who aren't geniuses have an amazing ability to stimulate it in others." John scoffed and rolled his eyes to the sky, yeah, Sherlock was back to his old self, he supposed it should be nice but he hadn't made up his mind on that yet, he thought on it as he and Sherlock stopped in front of the pub.

"Hang on – you were saying "Sorry" a minute ago. Don't spoil it. Go on: what have I done that's so bloody stimulating?" Sherlock who had been writing on his notepad, looked up under his curls and gave John a filthy smirk, John blushed, okay, perhaps he should have worded that better considering what they were just doing not five minutes ago. The Alpha huffed in amusement at John's red face and took pity on him, showing him what was written on the pad.

**HOUND**

"Yeah?" John asked confused and Sherlock pulled it back to place dots between the letters.

"But what if it's not a word? What if it is individual letters?" He answered and showed the edited page to his partner, which was when John caught on to what Sherlock was getting at.

**H.O.U.N.D.**

"You think it's an acronym?" He surmised and Sherlock shoved his notebook back in his pocket.

"Absolutely no idea but-" Sherlock trailed off and his face contorted in confused anger when he caught sight of Lestrade, shuffling on his feet casually in the pub. Sherlock started to stomp off into the pub and John had caught sight of the DI too so he quickly followed Sherlock to make sure the man didn't ruin his only other real friendship outside of John.

"What the _hell_ are you doing here?" Sherlock called, John winced and shook his head in exasperation. That was his Sherlock; always the charmer.

"_Well, nice to see you too_! I'm on holiday, would you believe?"

"No, I wouldn't." John chose that moment to stroll past Sherlock to distract him after getting the sense that the man was about to say something really rude. Lestrade pulled off his sunglasses and followed John's movements with his eyes, something Sherlock didn't like, not one bit; he narrowed his eyes as they exchanged greetings.

"Hello, John."

"Greg!" Sherlock looked between the two men suspiciously, why was John calling the DI '_Greg'_?

"I heard you were in the area. What are you up to? You after this '_Hound of Hell_' like on the telly?" Did the man really think that if he kept on pretending he was here by some sort of coincidence, Sherlock would believe him? Did he honestly believe Sherlock was stupid?

"I'm waiting for an explanation, Inspector. _Why_ are you here?" Sherlock gave an expectant expression.

"I've told you; I'm on holiday." Lestrade insisted, Sherlock lost with little patience he had with the other Alpha.

"You're brown as a nut! You're clearly just _back_ from your '_holidays'_." Lestrade knew he'd been rumbled but just tried to be nonchalant about it.

"Yeah, well I fancied another one." And in that one sentence not only had he confirmed Sherlock's deduction but also the tone of voice the man used, gave Sherlock the reason for his sudden appearance.

"Oh, this is Mycroft, isn't it?" Sherlock scoffed, Lestrade's eyes went wide and he panicked.

"No, look …" Sherlock wasn't even paying attention to him anymore.

"Of _course_ it is! One mention of Baskerville and he sends down my handler to ... to spy on me incognito. Is that why you're calling yourself _Greg_?" John who had remained silent throughout the exchange, and rather amused if he was honest, chose that moment to intervene, frowning, he pointed at Greg.

"That's his name." John told Sherlock incredulously. Sherlock had know Greg all these years and never once bothered to ask for his first name? _Seriously_?

"Is it?" Sherlock for his part was shocked; he couldn't believe Lestrade had a first name. How odd. Speaking of the DI, he was shaking his head in _not_ surprise and holding a pint of beer he had just swigged throughout John and Sherlock's little exchange.

"Yes – if you'd ever bothered to find out. Look, I'm not your handler and I don't just do what your brother tells me." Greg said as if he was fed up, John understood that, Mycroft's interference had a habit of pissing you off. Still maybe he could make Greg feel a bit included in their little investigation.

"Actually, you could be just the man we want." John said and was pleased when some light shone in Greg's eyes, mission accomplished.

"Why?" Sherlock wasn't so pleased, why should John, his John, need anything from another Alpha, detective inspector or not. John looked at him with that '_shut up_' face and pulled a bit of paper from his pocket to show Sherlock.

"Well, I've not been idle, Sherlock. I think I might have found something, here. Didn't know if it was relevant; starting to look like it might be. That is an awful lot of meat for a vegetarian restaurant."

"Excellent." Sherlock replied, proud at John's observance of this evidence, John could sense that he'd pleased his Alpha and gave Sherlock a little grin before nodding back over to Greg.

"Nice scary inspector from Scotland Yard who can put in a few calls might come in very handy." John concluded and Sherlock looked at him, as ideas go, that was bloody brilliant. Hand it to John to come up with something so simple yet so _fantastically_ genius. To show his pleasure for John's quick thinking he leaned over and planted a sweet kiss on the man's lips, taking no notice of the choking noises that Greg was making. When he pulled back, John was smiling at him with a blush staining his cheeks, the shorter man turned around to hit the bell on the countertop and to hide his joy at the fact Sherlock had just kissed him in front of another living, breathing human being, something he was certain Sherlock would never do.

"Shop!"Maybe he was just subconsciously acting like that because of the change in John's scent seeing as he hadn't taken the birth control that morning, he hadn't seen the point at the time seeing as he had assumed he was heading back to London, Sherlockless.

"Be with you in a minute!" Was called back, bringing John back from his musing's. Greg was looking decidedly uncomfortable now after Sherlock's little PDA, he looked as if he wanted to say something but wasn't sure how.

"_Oh for God's sakes_! Will you just spit it out already?" Sherlock growled and Greg twitched, looking between the consulting detective and John.

"Well I was just... I didn't know you two were well... I had an idea but you two obviously weren't together three months ago and well..." Greg made an awkward hand gesture and blushed, looking away again. John knew why he was blushing and it wasn't because he was with Sherlock now, speaking of the devil, Sherlock's eyes had narrowed, clearly he had picked up on the one part of that statement that could doom him and Greg.

"What do you mean '_you two obviously weren't together three months ago'_? How would you know something like that Lestrade?" Sherlock asked in a terrifying voice, although he feared he already knew the answer. Greg looked over at John for help and Sherlock took a menacing step forward, it seemed to be Greg's lucky day as Billy chose that moment to bounce up to the bar.

"Sorry, bit of a problem with one of the kegs. How can I help?" Greg gave an internal sigh of relief and flashed his badge, asking to speak with the owner in private. Billy's face went an interesting shade of green and he called out for Gary who came over and after looking at the DI invited him back into a sitting room with a mini kitchen in it. Sherlock went to follow the DI, violent intentions swirling around in his head but was stopped when John reached out and grabbed his arm.

"You go do your thing, Greg. We'll be there in a mo'." John said gently when the DI looked at him; Greg nodded and followed the two men in front of him, as soon as they were out of sight, Sherlock rounded on John."

"Please tell me that you didn't spend a heat with _him_?!" Sherlock hissed and John sighed, things were going so well, he nodded at Sherlock and braced his body.

"I'll _kill_ him" Sherlock snarled and was about to take off down the corridor the man had just left when John launched himself at Sherlock, knocking him through the door of the closed dining room, the one where they had sat the night before. John turned and slammed the door shut behind him, standing in front of it, arms spread wide.

"John, get out of my way. He needs to be taught a lesson." Sherlock hadn't stopped growling since John confirmed his fears and it only got louder now John was protecting the other Alpha. John did step away from the door but only to approach Sherlock and wrap his arms around his waist carefully, Sherlock was going through another phase of Alpha protectiveness and John didn't want to antagonize him since that hadn't worked out for him so far.

"Let me explain what happened to you and then if you still want to gut Greg like a fish, I'll let you, okay." He negotiated soothingly placing kisses all around the base of Sherlock's neck and collarbone.

"Fine." Sherlock gritted out and John licked a strip up his throat, pleased. Sherlock's eyes fluttered shut at the sensation and John pushed him gently over toward the chairs they sat at last night to nudge Sherlock down into one before plonking his arse in the other.

"Okay, listen to me. The heat I had three months ago, was nothing short of a _bastard_, couldn't have come at a worse time. Harry was on holiday, Sarah had a boyfriend, all my other backups weren't interested in taking me through my heat and you were, well, _you_. As it happened when we were at the crime scene for the '_Pea Soup_' murders, Greg caught a sniff of me and as he'd just split up with his misses again, offered to help me through it. I agreed." John said calmly but Sherlock's eyes were still flashing, he was going to have to go down a different route.

"Okay, Sherlock, okay... Remember yesterday when you pinned me down and clamped your teeth to the back of my neck? How I just gave in and submitted myself to you?" John asked seductively and watched pleased as the anger left Sherlock's eyes and was replace by burning lust and satisfaction.

"Yes. I remember." Sherlock hoarsely replied. John smiled at the Alpha and dropped to the floor, crawling forward on his hands and knees like a prowling lion to situate himself between Sherlock's spread legs. Sherlock watched the Omega's every movement and relaxed back into the big chair with a sigh.

"Well how would you feel if I told you that, I've never submitted to an Alpha in that way before? How would you feel if I told you that the only thing I let Greg do was satisfy my physical need and nothing more, no knotting? And _how_ would you feel to know that as soon as my heat begins, you will be able to sink your teeth deep into my neck and press yourself deep inside me, lock us together so that no one but you will ever, _ever_, be able to share my heat again? Hm? Does _that_ make you happy?" Throughout his speech John had slid his hands up and over Sherlock's thighs, stroking up and down and massaging the tense muscles 'til Sherlock was a mass of relaxed, deeply satisfied Alpha.

"That makes me very happy, John." Sherlock growled low and slipped his own hands onto John's Shoulders to squeeze rhythmically before continuing.

"I want to flip you over and fill you up right now but I can smell that your heat is close and I don't want to spoil you. You do, after all, still need to be punished for letting Lestrade have you." John dropped his head against Sherlock's left thigh and rubbed his face against it.

"Okay. I'll take your punishment without protest but only under _one_ condition." Sherlock raised an eyebrow at John and nodded for him to continue, he gave a loud, gravely groan when John bent his head slightly to bury his face in Sherlock's hard crotch.

"You don't punish yourself and let me take care of this." Sherlock nodded fiercely making John smile and then he helped the doctor open his trousers to pull his cock out and my _God_ It was big! 7" if John's calculations were correct, that meant 11.5" during a heat including a knot. John stroked up and down the gorgeous length so he could admire it a bit longer, then just lunged forward and swallowed it down in one, Sherlock howled and wrapped a hand in the back of John's hair pressing the Omega down and choking him. It wasn't the first time this'd happened to him so he'd built up a bit of a resistance to it, it seemed to be an Alpha kink; even female Alphas did it, in a manner of speaking since they _did_ have other equipment.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Sherlock called and started thrusting himself down John's throat, John for his part just relaxed his throat and took it, focusing on breathing through his nose and swallowing every once and a while to make Sherlock groan. Saliva was dripping down John's chin and soaking into his collar and tears were running down his face at the force with which Sherlock was shoving into his mouth but John loved it, he loved it because Sherlock was loving it, the doctor could tell from the way Sherlock was growling, moaning, groaning and snarling John's name over and over again. He could tell from the sweat that was covering Sherlock's face and pooling at his collarbone and he could tell from the way Sherlock had sped up at the end before he shoved himself so deep that John never even got to taste his come before it was pumped down into his stomach in thick globs.

Sherlock released the back of John's head so the man could pull back once he had finished and John climbed up into his lap to place kisses and licks all around Sherlock's face and neck whilst running his hands through ebony curls.

"Enjoy that?" John asked a bit rough and Sherlock let out a huff of laughter.

"I did, very much. Thank you for that."

"I wish we could stay here and rest right now but I think Greg will get suspicious if we don't make an appearance soon." Sherlock whined but nodded in agreement, he nudged John to get off him and stood to right himself. It took Sherlock five minutes but he managed to disguise the fact he'd just had a blowjob, wouldn't do for Lestrade to start asking questions and pestering John. Speaking of which, the Omega was adjusting himself uncomfortably by the door as he waited for Sherlock.

"Do you want me to help you with that?" Sherlock asked as he approached John but the little Omega just smiled and shook his head.

"No, I'm being punished remember." Sherlock smirked and tugged John into him by his belt making John giggle and wrap his arms around Sherlock's neck.

"You're right, you are being punished." Sherlock said smugly before leaning down and giving John a filthy kiss that rubbed John in all the wrong ways right now, when Sherlock drew back he was chuckling.

"I'll go and Join Lestrade, give you a few moments to sort yourself out." And then he was out the door and down the hall before John knew what was happening.

"Oh God! What just happened? THAT BASTARD!" He snarled and then slid down to the floor to palm himself as quickly as possible, it was nice to take time out and have a little fun with his new Alpha but he really needed to get back to being serious about this case and maybe kick Sherlock's arse for making his situation worse.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: The Run Around**

Sherlock strutted down the corridor towards the room which Lestrade was led to like the cat that'd caught the canary, he was positively radiating satisfied smugness and why shouldn't he be after that lovely little interlude John had provided him with. The dark haired Alpha was man enough to admit he went in there with every intention of pouncing on John and marking him in a way that meant no other Alpha would come near him again, _ever_. Then John had gone all pliant and lovely and started telling Sherlock all those wonderful things, then he had just melted like hot chocolate and let Sherlock fuck his mouth; he hadn't been expecting that.

On the other hand, Sherlock was still a little pissed off the _Lestrade_ of all people had shared one of John's heats, it didn't matter that back then Sherlock had no interest or knowledge of John's heat and it didn't matter that he had been disgusted by the very thought of being involved in one. All that mattered was _right now_, and right now Sherlock was pissed that Lestrade had been inside _his _Omega.

Although that thought would make the next part of his plan slightly easier to go through with.

When Sherlock finally entered the room that Lestrade was interrogating Gary and Billy in he had steeled himself to go through with his plan, he really didn't want to do anything to harm John and he'd make sure no physical harm would befall him but... he had to do this. Lestrade was flicking through a book of records when he strode in but looked up at Sherlock nervously when he heard the man enter, Sherlock just gave him a smug grin and padded over to the little mini kitchen off to the side to prepare some coffee for John.

Speaking of John, the little Omega ambled in to the room just as the kettle finished boiling and Sherlock smirked at the flushed, satisfied look he was wearing, he looked beautiful, Sherlock couldn't wait to see what that look would translate into during a heat. John gave him a quick smile and then turned his attention over to the table where the three men sat, Sherlock felt the pull of jealousy that John's attention wasn't on him anymore but pushed it away, it was for the best that John's attention wasn't completely focused on him right now so he could get his task done.

When he was done preparing his '_coffee_' he put the cup on a saucer and strode over to John's side with it, John who had been in deep thought startled when Sherlock appeared and then looked at his Alpha suspiciously.

"What's this?"

"Coffee. I made Coffee." Sherlock clarified and pressed the cup forward a little more.

"You _never _make coffee." John snorted and Sherlock gave him a hurt expression.

"I just did. Don't you want it?" He gave John a pleading look.

"Are you still apologising for last night?" John asked gently and Sherlock got the most brilliant idea.

"Perhaps..." He mumbled looking away, he thought about the way John had gone down on him earlier and let a blush stain his cheeks. John smiled at him and took the offered coffee, taking a sip, Sherlock looked on pleased but then John winced and pulled back.

"Mm. I don't take sugar..." Sherlock pulled the kicked puppy face again and John relented and continued drinking.

"That's nice. That's good." John lied and winced again when he took another sip before turning to place it on the mantel behind him, Sherlock watched him like a hawk, and in truth he was a little surprised that John had taken a second sip regardless of Sherlock's facial expression but then again this was John and John would do almost anything to please him. It made Sherlock feel a little bit guilty about drugging John with tainted sugar but he had to know if his theory was correct.

"These records go back nearly two months." They heard Lestrade muse and looked back over to table, Gary was clutching Billy's hand tightly in his own to comfort his Omega, and it was understandable considering the ginger man was trembling slightly.

"Is that when you had the idea, after the TV show went out?" Lestrade asked, looking at Gary firmly and poor Billy cracked under the weight of Lestrade's words and the accusing look directed at his lover.

"It's me. It was me. I'm sorry, Gary – I couldn't help it. I had a bacon sandwich at Cal's wedding and one thing just led to another..." Sherlock smirked behind the man's back and Lestrade looked off to the side to hide his own amusement, it would be terribly unprofessional if he didn't. When he looked back over at Billy it was with a face of incredulity.

"Nice try." Gary chose that moment to speak up and spare his Omega any more distress.

"Look, we were just trying to give things a bit of a boost, you know? A great big dog run wild up on the moor – it was heaven-sent. It was like us having our own Loch Ness Monster." Gary said trying to appeal to Lestrade, trying to explain but the DI just looked appalled.

"Where do you keep it?" He asked and Gary looked away, resigned.

"There's an old mineshaft. It's not too far. It was all right there." Gary confessed and Sherlock chose that moment to jump in after picking up on a key word.

"_Was_?" He drawled in question and Gary snarled, not liking being ganged up on by two Alphas; Billy leaned over and nuzzled his lover's bristly cheek to calm him down. The image brought forth the memory of John doing something similar back in that dining room earlier and Sherlock smiled lightly and glanced out the corner of his eye towards his own lover.

"We couldn't control the bloody thing! It was vicious! And then, a month ago, Billy took him to the vet and, er ... you know." The man softened his voice near the end when he caught sight of his Omega's distressed look but John need clarification.

"It's dead?"

"Put down." Gary softened.

"Yeah. No choice. So it's over." Billy finished and Gary sighed beside him once more trying to get Lestrade to see the lightness of the crime.

"It was just a joke, y'know?" Oddly enough the DI failed to see the funny side and stood up looking down at the pair angrily.

"_Yeah, hilarious_. You've nearly driven a man out of his mind." He snarled and then marched out of the place followed by John, Sherlock hung back to see the couple exchanging guilty looks and then proceeded to follow his companions out. When he got to the front door of the pub and looked out he noticed John and Lestrade standing way to close and clearly sharing a joke, his eyes narrowed and he stomped over quickly to slide his body in front of John's slightly, John sensing Sherlock's discomfort at his closeness with the other Alpha took a step back, nodding for Greg to do the same.

"So, you believe him about having the dog destroyed?" Lestrade asked, trying to change the subject and stop Sherlock from getting all protective.

"No reason not to." Sherlock answered and looked John up and down from the corner of his eye to make sure he was okay and hadn't been handled. Lestrade seeing that his little diversionary tactic wasn't working decided to bow out gracefully and took a couple of back to show Sherlock he was leaving.

"Well, hopefully there's no harm done. Not quite sure what I'd charge him with anyway. I'll have a word with the local Force. Right, that's that, then. Catch you later. I'm enjoying this! It's nice to get London out of your lungs!" Was called out as Lestrade left and John smiled and made a point to buy the DI a drink once his heat was over, when he glanced back to Sherlock he was pleased to note that the man had relaxed from Greg's departure.

"So that was their dog that people saw out on the moor?" John asked, Sherlock eyes left the departing figure of Lestrade and locked on John.

"Looks like it." Sherlock answered making John frowned.

"But that wasn't what _you_ saw. That wasn't just an ordinary dog." John pressed and Sherlock got a distant look in his eyes.

"No. It was immense, had burning red eyes and it was glowing, John. Its whole body was glowing." Sherlock shuddered, shook his head and turned to walk towards the car with John trailing after him.

"I've got a theory but I need to get back into Baskerville to test it." Sherlock told John who frowned in thought whilst Sherlock got out his phone and started flipping through his contacts 'til he reached 'M'.

"How? Can't pull off the ID trick again." John asked, Sherlock smirked at him and hit dial before lifting the phone to his ear.

"Might not have to." Then the person on the other end of the phone answered and Sherlock's whole demeanour changed to one of forced sincerity.

"Hello brother dear, _how are you_?" John shook his head, this man could be absolutely terrible sometimes, pity the man in question didn't really care.

"_Sherlock, what do you want_?" Mycroft answered testily.

"Why do you assume I'm asking for something? Perhaps I'm just concerned about my big brothers welfare." Sherlock pouted and leaned against the 4x4 as both John and Mycroft collectively snorted.

"_Sherlock. _What_ do you want?" _Sherlock rolled his eyes, obviously if he wanted what he wanted he's have to play ball with Mycroft.

"Very well, I need to get back into Baskerville, today and have unlimited access to the labs." Sherlock heard his brother choking on the other side and smirked at John and then he reached his hand out to John to pull the man against his side so he could press his ear to the back of Sherlock's phone to listen in.

"_What on _Earth_ makes you think for one moment that I'd even consider such a ridiculous idea_?" Mycroft sniffed and John could hear the smugness over the phone, the doctor let out a squeak all of a sudden when he felt Sherlock's hand grab his arse and slapped the man on the chest.

"_What was that_?" Mycroft drawled and Sherlock grinned.

"Nothing, just a passing animal molesting its mate. Now back to my request, look I have no interest in doing anything that'll destroy your lovely army base but I suspect there is someone in there experimenting on the residents of Grimpen village so I need to get in there and run a little experiment of my own to prove my theory. I'll do two cases for you?" Sherlock bargained and he could practically hear Mycroft thinking, Sherlock estimated at least two minutes and thirty seconds of silence so he gestured for John whom he was still holding on to, to hold the phone to Sherlock's other ear. John frowned at him and did as he was told but nearly dropped the phone when Sherlock tipped his head back and dropped his own to lay a kiss at the skin just at his Shirt collar.

"Sher-" He started but Sherlock silenced him with a kiss on the lips and whispered against them.

"Hush." The dipped back down to start nipping, licking and sucking on John's neck making the Omega bite his lip and lift his free hand up to scratch through Sherlock's hair. It was so strange one day Sherlock's fighting against everything Alpha/Omega and today he's kissing John in front of people and necking in the car park.

"_Very well brother. However it will be five cases and no arguments_." John whined lowly when Sherlock's head shot up and he grabbed the phone out of John's hand.

"Very well, how long will it take for you to make the call?" Sherlock asked, breath hitching when John leaned in to return the favour to Sherlock's neck.

"_Ten minutes_. _Good luck little brother, do tell me how you get on_." Then there was a click and Sherlock shoved his phone in his pocket and turned so John's back was pressed against their car before reattaching his lips to the wanton little Omega. They kissed, sucked, licked and moaned for the ten minutes that Mycroft had said it would take for arrangements to be made for Sherlock's access and then the detective pulled back from John's lips so he was a breath away from touching him.

"As much as I would love to keep going, we do have an appointment at Baskerville." Sherlock husked.

"Mm-yes- and we should-make good- on that-" John said in between little pecks to Sherlock's lips, they shared one last deep kiss and then Sherlock pulled away completely to get into the driver's seat.

"Well then, let's get this over with shall we?" Sherlock called grinning and John grinned back and jumped in the car too.

_**/**_

This was proving to be very difficult to watch, Sherlock had assumed he was braced for watching John's terror rise but there was no way any Alpha can be prepared to watch their Omega run around in the dark terrified of the sounds Sherlock was playing over the announcement system. Right at this very moment, Sherlock hated himself, hated himself with more passion than he could possibly imagine. John was trembling so hard he could see it on these fuzzy monitors, he watched the poor man stop and reach into his pocket for his phone and then he heard his own phone start to ring but he fought to ignore it and kept watch on the screen before him.

John ran around for another couple of minutes before Sherlock played a particularly vicious growl over the speakers and he saw John's whole body stop and go pale before the man made a run for one of the cadges along the side of the room, when Sherlock saw no more movement for a time he finally reached the end of his patience, heart hammering in his chest and picked up the phone to call John. When the man answered he was panting heavily and squeaking through his words.

"_It's here. It's in here with me_."

"Where are you?" He really didn't want to ask since he knew when John was anyway but he had to if he wanted to keep this a secret form John.

"_Get me out, Sherlock. You have got to get me out. The big lab: the first lab that we saw_." Sherlock was already on route but he had to keep John talking, one, so he knew the outcome of his experiment and two, he couldn't bear it if John had a panic attack because of him.

"John? John?" He called when there was no sound for a second.

"_Now, Sherlock_. Please." John begged and Sherlock started to run.

"All right, I'll find you. Keep talking."

"_I can't. It'll hear me_."

"_Keep talking_. What are you seeing?" Sherlock insisted and quietly pushed his way into the lab.

"_I don't know. I don't know, but I can hear it_." Sherlock was looking around for the cages but it was a little different down here than looking at an overview monitor.

"Can you _see_ it?" Sherlock asked as he approached the cage John was hiding in and paused when he saw John move forward to peek out the crack, he heard John start to deny it but then he trailed off.

"_I_ can _see it_. _It's here_." John said flatly and Sherlock rushed over to pull the sheet from the cage and slide it open, when the lights blinked on John looked absolutely terrified and the smell of his fear was making Sherlock both angry and sick at the same time. He had done this, he had made John like this even if he has proven his theory it was not worth the look on John's face or the pallor of his skin.

"Are you all right?" Sherlock asked worriedly and wasn't expecting the flying leap John took from the back of the cage and into Sherlock, knocking him on his arse, nor was he expecting the desperate kiss John planted on his lips before the man launched himself back onto his feet to start pacing and panicking.

"Jesus Christ... It was the hound, Sherlock. It was here. I swear it, Sherlock. It must..." Sherlock stood up and reached for the terrified Omega.

"John..." The man just cut him off and strode forward to warp his arms around Sherlock and buried his head in the man's coat.

"Did ... did ... did you see it? You _must_ have!" He looked up at Sherlock and asked frantically but Sherlock pressed him back against his chest and held him tight, placing a soothing kiss on top of John's head.

"It's all right. It's okay now."

"_NO IT'S __NOT__! IT'S NOT OKAY! I saw it. I was wrong!_" John screamed and panted into Sherlock's chest making the detective wince.

"Well, let's not jump to conclusions." Sherlock said softly and John looked up at him again.

"What?"

"What did you see?" John frowned and pressed himself as tightly to Sherlock as humanly possible.

"I told you: I saw the hound." John huffed, snuggling Sherlock and making the man smile and rub his chin against the top of John's head.

"Huge; red eyes?" Sherlock asked.

"Yes."

"Glowing?"

"Yeah." Sherlock smirked and tipped up John's head to look up at him.

"No."

"What?" John was starting to pull away but Sherlock couldn't have that so he kept a tight grip on John and explained.

"I made up the bit about glowing. You saw what you expected to see because I _told_ you. You have been drugged. We have _all_ been drugged." John's eyes widened and Sherlock gave him a comforting squeeze.

"Drugged?" John asked and screwed up his face.

"Can you walk?" Sherlock questioned and John nodded but didn't let go of Sherlock so Sherlock shifted them around so he could put a steadying arm around John's shoulders and keep one of the man's arms around his waist.

"Come on, then. It's time to lay this ghost." Sherlock said gently to the Omega and pulled him slowly in the direction of Stapleton's lab. 


End file.
